Sunday, January 16, 2011

spirituel \spir-i-choo-EL\, adjective:

1. Showing or having a refined and graceful mind or wit.

2. Light and airy in movement; ethereal.

Spirituel enters English from the French word for spiritual, but takes up a distinct yet related meaning to its English sibling.

COD diet

• when you lose a lot of weight due to missing meals, because you play too much call of duty

Guy 1: Dude, have you lost weight?

Guy 2: Yeah, after Black Ops came out, I went back on the COD diet.

Trivia

What national organization’s honor society is known as the Order of the Arrow?

• The Boy Scouts of America.

History

• Ivan the Terrible: grand prince of Moscow was crowned the first czar of Russia (1547)
• US civil service: US government commission was reestablished by the Pendleton Act, ending the spoils system; from then on, appointments to public office were to be made based on merit, not loyalty (1883)
• Amendment 18: the law beginning Prohibition was ratified (1920); it was repealed in 1933
• Mickey Mantle: signed a $75,000-a-year contract, becoming the highest-paid baseball player at the time (1961)
• Operation Desert Storm: the White House announced the start of the campaign to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait (1991)
• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: was sworn in as president of Liberia, becoming Africa's first elected female head of state (2006)

Birthdays

• Dizzy Dean (1911-1974): Cardinals pitcher; also, first baseman Albert Pujols (31) and quarterback Joe Flacco (26)
• Dian Fossey (1932-1985): zoologist
• Susan Sontag (1933-2004): writer/critic, On Photography, The Volcano Lover; also, writers Vittorio Alfieri (1749-1803), Robert Service (1874-1958), William Kennedy (83) and Norman Podhoretz (81)
• Marilyn Horne (77): mezzo-soprano; plus, singers Ronnie Milsap (67) and Sade (52)
• A.J. Foyt (76): racecar driver who won the triple crown of motorsports — the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 and the 24-Hour Le Mans
• John Carpenter (63): director, Halloween
• Debbie Allen (61): dancer and choreographer, Fame
• Aaliyah (1979-2001): singer, model, actress; also, model Kate Moss (37)