Saturday, September 4, 2010

degage \dey-gah-ZHEY\, adjective:

1. Unconstrained; easy, as in manner or style.
2. Without emotional involvement; detached.

Degage stems from the French verb dégager, "to release, free, redeem."

Dweet

• (verb) tweeting while intoxicated

Joe did a keg stand and then wrote a dweet about it.

Trivia

How long—in pages—are the British Standards Institution’s specifications for preparing a proper cup of tea?

• Six. The specifications—in a 5,000-word essay accompanied by drawings—were issued in 1999.

History

• Roman Empire: came to an end — or at least the Western part did — when emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed (457)
• Los Angeles: the US's No. 2 city, the City of Angels, was founded by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve (1781)
• Geronimo: Apache chief became the last Native American warrior to surrender to US troops (1886)
• Edsel: the most famous American automotive lemon was introduced by Ford; it was named for Henry Ford's son, Edsel (1957)
• Mark Spitz: swimmer won his seventh gold medal (1972); this record for the most golds at a single Olympics stood until it was broken by Michael Phelps in August 2008
• Google: the Internet's foremost search engine was introduced by Larry Page and Sergey Brin (1998)

Birthdays

• Lewis Latimer (1848-1928): inventor, made improvements to the lightbulb
• Edward Dmytryk (1908-1999): film director who was one of the Hollywood Ten
• Richard Wright (1908-1960): author, Native Son; writers François René Chateaubriand (1768-1848), Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) and Mary Renault (1905-1983) were also born on this date
• Dr. Drew Pinsky (52): Loveline and Celebrity Rehab host; plus, radio commentator Paul Harvey (1918-2009)
• Tom Watson (61): champion golfer; also, colleague Ray Floyd (68)
• Beyoncé Knowles (29): singer/actor; also, entertainers Mitzi Gaynor (79), Merald "Bubba" Knight (68), Jennifer Salt (66), Martin Chambers and Judith Ivey (both 59), Khandi Alexander (53), Damon Wayans (50), Noah Taylor (41), Ione Skye (39) and Wes Bentley (32)