Wednesday, May 15, 2024

*515*

 

apotheosis

1. Exaltation to divine rank or stature; deification.
2. Elevation to a preeminent or transcendent position; glorification: Down here I'm the apotheosis of cool (Sewer Urchin from the animated series The Tick).
3. An exalted or glorified example: Their leader was the apotheosis of courage.

 droll \drohl\, adjective:

1. amusing in an odd way; whimsically humorous; waggish.

noun:

1. a droll person; jester; wag.

verb:

1. Archaic. to jest; joke.

Droll originally comes from the Middle Dutch word drol referring to "a fat little man." The word came to English through the French droll which meant "pleasant rascal."

 

coffee nap

• A nap taken after someone has consumed any amount of caffeine (i.e. coffee) resulting not in sleep, but blissful rest, while still mildly conscious.

Evelyn: Hey Kaitlyn, how was your coffee nap?

Kaitlyn: It was fantastic I listened to the whole LOVE album, while seeming to float on a cloud.

Evelyn: Awesome! I just had a latte, about to have a coffee nap of my own!

History

• Las Vegas: the glitzy "entertainment capital of the world" was founded (1905)
• Standard Oil Company: in a historic ruling, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Rockefeller's mega-monopoly; several of the pieces would later be known as Exxon, Mobil, Amoco and Chevron (1911)
• air mail: first route in US was set up between NY and Washington (1918); on a Boeing flight 12 years later, Ellen Church became the first stewardess (1930)

  
• nylon stockings: first went on sale in the US (1940)
• Portrait of Dr. Gachet: Van Gogh painting fetched a record high price of $82.5 million; the record stood till 2006, and Dr. Gachet is now No. 4 (1990)

Birthdays

• Lyman Frank Baum 1856 - Author of children's books ("The Wonderful Wizard of Oz")
• Pierre Curie 1859 - Physicist
• Katherine Anne Porter 1890 - Journalist, essayist, short story writer
• Joseph Cotten (Joseph Cheshire Cotten) 1905 - Actor
• James Mason (James Neville Mason) 1909 - Actor
• Constance Cummings 1910 - Actress
• Max Frisch 1911 - Architect, playwright, novelist
• Eddy Arnold (Richard Edward Arnold) 1918 - Country singer
• Ellis Larkins 1923 - Musician
• Richard Avedon 1923 - Photographer
• Anthony Shaffer 1926 - Playwright, novelist, screenwriter
• Jasper Johns 1930 - Artist
• Wavy Gravy (Hugh Nanton Romney) 1936 - Entertainer, peace activist
• Paul Zindel 1936 - Playwright, author
• Anna Maria Alberghetti 1936 - Opera singer, actress
• Trini Lopez (Trinidad López III) 1937 - Singer, guitarist

  
• Madeleine Albright 1937 - First woman to become a U.S. Secretary of State
• Lenny Welch 1938 - Singer
• Paul Rudd 1940 - Actor
• Lainie Kazan 1940 - Actress, singer
• K.T. Oslin (Kay Toinette Oslin) 1942 - Country singer, songwriter
• Graham Goble 1947 - Musician (Little River Band)
• Brian Eno 1948 - Musician (Roxy Music)
• Chazz Palminteri (Calogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri) 1951 - Actor, writer
• Pat Hickey 1953 - Hockey player

  
• George Brett 1953 - Baseball player
• Mike Oldfield (Michael Gordon "Mike" Oldfield) 1953 - Musician, composer
• Lee Horsley 1955 - Actor
• Emmitt Smith 1969 - Football player
• Prince Be 1970 - (PM Dawn)
• David Charvet 1972 - Singer, actor
• Ahmet Rodan Zappa 1974 - Musician
• Amy Chow 1978 - Comedienne
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler 1981
  • Julieta "Keyra Agustina" Machado 1986