Monday, October 11, 2010

nepenthe \ni-PEN-thee\, noun:

1. A drug or drink, or the plant yielding it, mentioned by ancient writers as having the power to bring forgetfulness of sorrow or trouble.

2. Anything inducing a pleasurable sensation of forgetfulness, esp. of sorrow or trouble.

Nepenthe is comprised of the Greek roots ne-, "not," and penthos, "grief."

tongue typo

• What happens when you know perfectly well what you want to say but it comes out wrong. 

It's a tongue typo when you trip over your words and accidentally call your friend Mike instead of by his actual name, Mark.

Trivia

How did Christopher Columbus describe the shape of the earth in a letter he wrote following his third voyage to the New World?

• He said it was in “the form of a pear.” The letter was written to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

History

• Daughters of the American Revolution: lineage-based, conservative patriotic society was founded (1890)
• Vatican II: ecumenical council that led to liberalization and modernization of the church was convened by Pope John XXIII (1962)
• Hillary Rodham: married fellow Yale Law student Bill Clinton (1975)

Birthdays

• H. J. Heinz (1844-1919): manufacturer of 57 varieties; industrialist Charles Revson (1906-1975) shared this birth date
• Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962): former FLOTUS, social activist
• Jerome Robbins (1918-1998): choreographer, West Side Story
• Elmore Leonard (85): crime, western writer, Get Shorty
• Steve Young (49): quarterback for the 49ers
• Emily Deschanel (35): Dr. Temperance Brennan on Bones; also, actors Ron Leibman (73), David Morse (57), Stephen Spinella (54), Joan Cusack (48), Sean Patrick Flanery (45), Luke Perry (44), Jane Krakowski (42) and Michelle Trachtenberg (25)
• Michelle Wie (21): golf prodigy from Hawaii