Thursday, January 27, 2011

jobbery \JOB-uh-ree\, noun:

• The conduct of public or official business for the sake of improper private gain.

Jobbery combines the sense of job and robbery and reflects the historically negative connotation of job, whose definition may derive from gob, as in "a mass or lump."

concern troll

• A person who posts on a blog thread, in the guise of "concern," to disrupt dialogue or undermine morale by pointing out that posters and/or the site may be getting themselves in trouble, usually with an authority or power. They point out problems that don't really exist. The intent is to derail, stifle, control, the dialogue. It is viewed as insincere and condescending.

A concern troll on a progressive blog might write, "I don't think it's wise to say things like that because you might get in trouble with the government." Or, "This controversy is making your side look disorganized."

Trivia

Under what name did female bull terrier Honey Tree Evil Eye gain fame as a spokesdog in TV ads?

• As Spuds MacKenzie, “the original party animal,” in Bud Light beer commercials that aired in the late 1980s.

History

• light bulb: Thomas Edison got a patent for his incandescent light (1880)
• Leningrad: the 880-day siege ended; more than half the city's population died during the harsh winter of 1942 (1944)
• Auschwitz: Nazi concentration and extermination camp was liberated by the Red Army (1945)
• Nevada Test Site: nuclear testing began with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat (1951)
• Outer Space Treaty: began collecting signatories; it bans WMDs in space and says the moon is communal property (1967)
• Apollo I: during a preflight test, a cockpit fire trapped and killed NASA astronauts Roger Chaffee, Virgil (Gus) Grissom and Ed White; they were to have made the first manned voyage to the moon (1967)

Birthdays

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): composer, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute; other composers born on this date include Édouard Lalo (1823-1892) and Jerome Kern (1885-1945)
• Lewis Carroll (1832-1898): author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; and, screenwriter Frank Miller (54)
• James Cromwell (71): actor, The Queen, W; also, actors Donna Reed (1921-1986), John Witherspoon (69), Mimi Rogers (55), Bridget Fonda (47), Alan Cumming (46), Tamlyn Tomita (45) and Josh Randall (39)
• Nick Mason (67): drummer with Pink Floyd; plus, musicians Tracy Lawrence and Tricky (both 43)
• Mikhail Baryshnikov (63): ballet dancer and choreographer
• John G. Roberts, Jr. (56): 17th US Chief Justice; also, jurist Learned Hand (1872-1961)
• Dante (1999-2010): diamond back terrapin (turtle), nuclear physicist, noble prize winner, 3 time oscar winner, 6 pulitzer prizes, ninja, dragon slayer, likes krill, and greatest pet a person could ever hope for. We miss him. :(