Monday, January 24, 2011

paphian \PEY-fee-uhn\, adjective:

1. Of or pertaining to love, esp. illicit physical love.

2. Of or pertaining to Paphos, an ancient city of Cyprus sacred to Aphrodite.

3. Noting or pertaining to Aphrodite or to her worship or service.

Paphian relates to the ancient Greek paphios, "of the Greek goddess Aphrodite."

Rebound Team

• The team you start to root for after your home team is knocked out of the playoffs or if they just suck.

Guy 1: I can't believe the ravens lost to the steelers

Guy 2: Yeah same here. The Jets are my rebound team because they play the steelers next

Trivia

What sitcom spin-off ran for 253 episodes—43 more than its popular parent sitcom?

• The Jeffersons, which ran from 1975 to 1985. Its parent show was All in the Family, which ran for 210 episodes, from 1971 to 1979.

History

• Caligula: Roman emperor who had a reputation for freakish behavior was assassinated by his Praetorian Guards (41)
• gold rush: a gold nugget was found at Sutter's Mill in northern California; President Polk announced the find in December and the gold rush began (1848)
• Robert Baden-Powell: organized the first Boy Scout troop in England (1908)
• Eskimo Pie: chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar was patented by Christian K. Nelson; it aimed to satisfy cravings for ice cream and chocolate bars at once (1922)
• St. Petersburg: Russian city was renamed Leningrad three days after Lenin's death (1924)
• Shoichi Yokoi: Japanese soldier was discovered hiding on Guam, 28 years after American forces reconquered the island in the Battle of Guam (1972)
• Department of Homeland Security: began operations, headed by Tom Ridge (2003)

Birthdays

• Edith Wharton (1862-1937): novelist, Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence; and, writers William Congreve (1670-1729) and Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais (1732-1799)
• Oral Roberts (1918-2009): faith healer, evangelist
• Neil Diamond (70): Grammy-winning singer/ songwriter; also, musicians Doug Kershaw (75), Aaron Neville (70), Jools Holland (53), Warren Zevon (1947-2003) and Tatyana Ali (32)
• Mary Lou Retton (43): the first American woman gymnast to win an individual Olympic gold medal
• Ed Helms (37): The Office's Andy Bernard; plus, actors Ernest Borgnine (94), Michael Ontkean (65), John Belushi (1949-1982), Daniel Auteuil (61), Nastassja Kinski (52), Matthew Lillard (41) and Mischa Barton (25)
• Nicole Marie Lenz (31): Playmate