Thursday, October 7, 2010

mana \MAH-nuh\, noun:

1. A generalized, supernatural force or power, which may be concentrated in objects or persons.
2. An ancient kingdom in Iran, in Kurdistan.

Mana is adopted into English from a Maori word meaning "power, authority, supernatural power."

fantasy cheering

• Rooting for a football player you would normally root against because the player is on your fantasy football team.

As the home team was losing, the crowd became frustrated with John's fantasy cheering for the opposing quarterback.

Trivia

What is the highest score that wannabe attorneys can get on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT)?

What’s the lowest score possible?

• The highest is 180; the lowest, 120.

History

• Battle of Lepanto: victory of Christians over Ottoman Empire (1571)
• Cats: long-running musical based on T.S. Eliot's poems opened on Broadway (1982)
• Achille Lauro: Italian ship was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists; Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound passenger, was killed the next day (1985)
• gubernatorial recall: California governor Gray Davis was replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the state's first gubernatorial recall election (2003)

Birthdays

• Neils Bohr (1885-1962): Nobel Prize-winning atomic physicist
• Desmond Tutu (79): South African cleric who won a Nobel Prize for his work against apartheid.
• John Mellencamp (59): rocker; musicians Al Martino (1927-2009), Kevin Godley (65), Tico Torres (57), Yo-Yo Ma (55) and Thom Yorke (42) were also born on this date
• Vladimir Putin (58): prime minister of Russia
• Rachel McAdams (34): actor, The Notebook, The Time Traveler's Wife; also, actors Andy Devine (1905-1977), June Allyson (1917-2006) and Dylan Baker (51)