Friday, January 7, 2011

katzenjammer \KAT-suhn-jam-er\, noun:

1. The discomfort and illness experienced as the aftereffects of excessive drinking; hangover.

2. Uneasiness; anguish; distress.

3. Uproar; clamor.

Katzenjammer stems from American English, a combination of the German Katze, "cat," and jammer, "distress." The word was popularized by the early comic "The Katzenjammer Kids."

G6

• G6 / G650. Slang for the Gulfstream G650, a twin-engine jet airplane manufactured by Gulfstream Aerospace. The estimated pricetag exceeds $58 million USD, and will be assembled in Gulfstream's new manufacturing facility in Savannah, Georgia. Gulfstream begins taking orders for the aircraft in April, 2010, with delivery beginning in 2012.

Example usage:

"Iâm feelin' so fly like a G6".

Trivia

How much did the Pony Express charge to carry a half-ounce letter from Missouri to California in 1860, when it went into business?

• $5 (about $90 in today’s dollars), for a trip that took 10 days. The price was later cut to $1.

History

• Galilean moons: Jupiter's moons were first observed by Galileo; Simon Marius, however, named them — Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, after the lovers of Zeus (1610)
• Fannie Farmer: published her first cookbook (1896)
• Marian Anderson: the contralto became the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House (1955)
• Khmer Rouge: Pol Pot's regime was toppled when Vietnam took Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh (1979)
• Bill Clinton: impeachment trial began (1999)

Birthdays

• Millard Fillmore (1800-1874): 13th POTUS
• St. Bernadette (1844-1879): the girl who first saw Our Lady of Lourdes
• Adolph Zukor (1873-1976): film mogul; also, shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (1906 [O.S.]-1975)
• Charles Addams (1912-1988): cartoonist, The Addams Family
• William Peter Blatty (83): Oscar-winning screenwriter, The Exorcist; writer Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was also born on this date
• Kenny Loggins (63): singer, songwriter and guitarist; also, musicians Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), Henry Allen (1908-1967), Jean Pierre Rampal (1922-2000), Paul Revere (73) and Marshall Chapman (62)
• Nicolas Cage (47): Oscar winner for Leaving Las Vegas; other screen personalities born on this date include Sammo Hung (59), David Caruso (55), Katie Couric (54), Dustin Diamond (34), Kevin Rahm (40), Bipasha Basu (32), Jeremy Renner (30) and Liam Aiken (21)
• Natalie Gulbis (28): the LPGA golfer who's also a swimsuit model
• Erin Gray (61): actress, 80s hottie