Tuesday, October 26, 2010

eke \EEK\, transitive verb:

1. To gain or supplement with great effort or difficulty -- used with 'out'.

2. To increase or make last by being economical -- used with 'out'.

Eke is from Old English ecan, "to increase."

Mooselini

A petty dictator from a sparsely populated state with a large moose population.

Governor Mooselini today fired yet another agency chief for daring to question her policies.

Trivia

Which African countries merged to form Tanzania?

Tanganyika and Zanzibar, in 1964.

History

• Erie Canal: 160-mile (257 km.) waterway opened, offering a route from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River (1825)
• Gunfight at the OK Corral: a legendary Wild West shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, killed three, wounded three, inspired movies; it did not actually take place in the corral (1881)
• Baby Fae: neonatal infant was given a baboon's heart by transplant surgeon Dr. Leonard L. Bailey in Loma Linda, California; she lived for 21 days (1984)

Birthdays

• François Mitterrand (1916-1996): former president of France
• Pat Sajak (64): host of TV game show Wheel of Fortune
• Pat Conroy (65): author of The Prince of Tides, South of Broad
• Hillary Rodham Clinton (63): US Secretary of State
• Dylan McDermott (49): actor, The Practice, Dark Blue; also, actors Bob Hoskins (68), Jaclyn Smith (65), D. W. Moffett and James Pickens Jr. (both 56), Rita Wilson (54), Cary Elwes (48), Tom Cavanagh (47) and Anthony Rapp (39) and Jon Heder (33)
• Keith Urban (43): country singer; gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) shares this birth date