Monday, July 20, 2026

embroil \ em-BROIL \ , verb;

1. to bring into discord or conflict; involve in contention or strife. 
2. to throw into confusion; complicate. 

Origin: Embroil entered English at the turn of the 17th century and comes from the Middle French embrouiller.

baxon

• bacon prepared by t3h bax0jayz

renee: this bacon is amazing!
soula: that's because it's not bacon, it's BAXON!

 

History

• Locust Plague of 1874: largest recorded swarm of locusts descended on North America's Great Plains, destroying some $200m in crops; the plague lasted about 10 days, but larger-than-usual swarms of locusts continued to plague the area for several more years
  
• Sitting Bull: Sioux leader surrendered to the US Army under a promise of amnesty (1881)
• Abdullah I: the king of Jordan was killed by a Palestinian gunman in Jerusalem (1951)
• Sirimavo Bandaranaike: was elected leader of Sri Lanka, becoming the world's first female prime minister (1960)
• Special Olympics: took place for the first time, in Chicago; 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities competed (1968)
• Neil Armstrong: the astronaut became the first human to set foot on the moon (1969)
  Chester Bennington of Linkin Park committed suicide (2017)

Birthdays 

• Francesco Petrarch 1304
  

  
• Veron Felton 1890 - Actress (Picnic, The Oklahoman)
• Theda Bara 1890
• Sir Edmund Hillary 1919 - Explorer, first to climb Mt. Everest
• Ted Schroeder 1921 - Tennis player
• Lola Albright 1925 - Actress (The Tender Trap, The Impossible Years)
• Robert D. Maurer 1924
• Michael Gielen 1927
• Mike Ilitch 1929 - Founder of Little Caesar's Pizza franchises, owner of Detroit Red Wings
• Sally Ann Howes 1930 - Actress (Dead of Night, Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang)
• Nam June Paik 1932
• Chuck Daly 1933
• Sleepy LaBeef 1935
• Butch (Fred) Baird 1936 - Golfer
• Diana Rigg 1938 - Actress (Medea, King Lear, The Avengers)
• Natalie Wood (Natasha Nikolaevna Gurdin) 1938 - Actress (From Here to Eternity, West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause)
• Tony (Pedro Lopez) Oliva 1938 - Baseball player
• Jo Ann Campbell 1938
• Pete Hamilton 1942 - Auto racer
• Mickey (Mitchell Jack) Stanley 1942 - Baseball Player
• Chris Amon 1943 - Auto racer
• John Lodge 1943 - Musician (The Moody Blues)
• T.G. Shepherd (William Bowder) 1944 - Singer
• Betty Burfeindt 1945 - Golfer
• Kim Carnes 1946 - Singer
• John Almond 1946 - Musician (Johnny Almond and the Music Machine)
• Carlos Santana 1947 - Musician (Santana)
• Frank Whaley 1953
• Paul Cook (Sex Pistols, Professionals) 1956
• Donna Dixon 1957 - Actress (Wayne's World, Dr. Detroit)
• Mick McNeil 1958 - Musician (Simple Minds)
• Radney Foster 1959
• Dino Esposito 1963 - Singer
• Chris Cornell 1964 - Musician (Soundgarden)
• Stone (Carpenter) Gossard 1966 - Musician (Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog), also known as Carpenter Newton
• Reed Diamond 1967
• Josh Holloway 1969 - Actor ("Lost")
  Judy Greer 1975
• Ray Allen 1975 - Basketball player
• Charlie Korsmo 1978 
• Gisele Bundchen 1980 
  Julianne Hough 1988
  Alycia Debnam-Carey 1993
   
   
  

   

  

  
  
  

            
  
    
  
          

 

 

Sunday, July 5, 2026

abecedarian \ ey-bee-see-DAIR-ee-uhn \ , noun; 

1. a person who is learning the letters of the alphabet. 
2. a beginner in any field of learning. 

adjective: 

1. of or pertaining to the alphabet. 
2. arranged in alphabetical order. 
3. rudimentary; elementary; primary. 

Origin: Abecedarian entered English in the early 1600s. It can be traced to the Latin abecedarium meaning "alphabet" or "primer."

Dayturnal

• The opposite of nocturnal. Informal word for whatever it is that actually describes sleeping at night and being awake during the day.

Karah is dayturnal because she sleeps until four in the morning, is awake all day and passes out at 8:00

History

• Principia Mathematica: Isaac Newton published the three-volume work containing his laws of motion and law of universal gravitation (1687)
• Venezuela, Algeria, Cape Verde: declared independence (1811, 1962, 1975)
• Salvation Army: Christian charitable organization was founded by William Booth to feed the poor of London (1865); it received its name 13 years later
• bikini: the itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny swimsuit made its debut at a Paris fashion show (1946)
• Dolly the sheep: the first mammal successfully cloned from an adult cell was born in Scotland (1996) 

  
  

  

Birthdays

• Étienne de Silhouette 1709 - French Controller-General of Finances under Louis XV
• Sarah Siddons 1755 - Actress
• Sir Stamford Raffles 1781 = British statesman, know for founding of the city of Singapore
• David G. Farragut 1801 - Officer in U.S. Navy during the U.S. Civil War, known for the paraphrased quote: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
• P.T. Barnum (Phineas Taylor Barnum) 1810 - American showman, businessman, entertainer
• Jean Cocteau (Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau) 1889 - Poet, novelist, dramatist, boxing manager, playwright
• Henry Cabot Lodge 1902 - American statesman, historian
• Milburn Stone 1904 - Actor
• Georges Pompidou (Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou) 1911 - French politician
• Janos Starker 1924 - Musician (cellist)
• Warren Oates 1928 - Actor
• Katherine Helmond 1934 - Actress ("Soap," "Who's the Boss")
• Shirley Knight 1936 - Actress
• Chuck Close 1940 - Artist
• Robbie Robertston 1944 - Musician (The Band)
• Michael Monarch 1950 - Musician (Steppenwolf)
• Huey Lewis 1951 - Musician (Huey Lewis and the News)
• Richard "The Goose" Gossage 1951 - Baseball player
• Charles Ventre 1952 - Musician (River Road)
• James Lofton 1956 - Football player
• Bill Watterson 1958 - cartoonist (Calvin & Hobbes)
• Marc Cohn 1959 - Singer, songwriter
• Edie Falco 1963 - Actress ("The Sopranos")
• Kathryn Erbe 1965 - Actress ("Law & Order: Criminal Intent")
• RZA (Robert Fitzgerald Diggs) 1969 - Music producer, author, rapper
• Joe (the R&B singer) 1973
• Bengt Lagerberg 1973 - Musician (The Cardigans)
• Dale Godboldo 1975 - Actor
• Bizarre 1978 - Musician (D12)
• Amelie Mauresmo 1979 - Tennis player
• Jason Wade 1980 - Musician (Lifehouse)
• Dave Haywood 1982 - Musician (Lady Antebellum)
  Danay Garcia 1984 - Actress (FTWD)

 

 

  

Saturday June 27, 2026

tarantism \ TAR-uhn-tiz-uhm \ , noun; 

• a mania characterized by an uncontrollable impulse to dance, especially as prevalent in southern Italy from the 15th to the 17th century, popularly attributed to the bite of the tarantula. Also, tarentism. 

Origin: Tarantism comes from Taranto , the name of a seaport city in Italy where the spiders once thought to cause tarantism were frequently found. The tarantula spider is also named for this town.

 

I'm out of practice

• An expression used to explain why you can't do something that requires being in shape. Pretty much just saying that you're out of shape, just not wanting to seem fat.

"I'll race you!"

"Nah, I'm out of practice!"

"fat ass"

History

• Joseph Smith: the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was killed by an anti-Mormon mob in Illinois (1844)
• Joshua Slocum: Canadian adventurer landed at Newport, Rhode Island, becoming the first to circumnavigate the world on his own (1898)
• Newbery Medal: was first awarded, to Hendrik Willem van Loon for The Story of Mankind (1922)
• paintball: the first game was played, in New Hampshire (1981)
• US National Do Not Call Registry: opened for business; almost ¾ of a million phone numbers were signed up on its first day in a stand against unwanted telemarketing (2003)

Birthdays

• Louis XII (France) 1462
• Charles XII (Sweden) 1682
• Charles Stewart Parnell 1846
• Mildred J. Hill 1859

  
• Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872
• Helen Keller 1880
• John McIntire (actor) 1907
• Audrey Christie 1911
• Willie Mosconi 1913
• Ben Homer 1917
• I.A.L. Diamond 1920
• Elmo Hope 1923
• Rosalie Allen 1924
• Jerome ‘Doc’ Pomus 1925
• Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan 1927
• H. Ross Perot 1930
• Charles Bronfman 1931
• Anna Moffo 1934
• Shirley Anne Field 1938
• Sandra Smith 1940
• Frank Mills 1942
• Bruce Johnston (The Beach Boys) 1944
• Norma Kamili 1945
• Julia Duffy 1951
• Isabelle Adjani 1955
• Lorrie Morgan 1959
• Brian Dillinger 1960
  J. J. Abrams 1966
• Tobey Maguire 1975
• Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer) 1976
• Madylin Sweeten 1991
  Chandler Riggs (TWD) 1999 

  

  

 

  

Thursday, June 11, 2026

withershins \ WITH-er-shinz \ , adverb; 

• Chiefly Scot . in a direction contrary to the natural one, especially contrary to the apparent course of the sun or counterclockwise: considered as unlucky or causing disaster. Also, widdershins . 

Origin: Withershins comes from the Middle High German wider meaning "against; opposite" and sin "way; course." It entered English in the early 1500s.

rocket surgery (n.)

• a play on words which mixes two common metaphors: "rocket science" and "brain surgery"

[A line in a hilarious Chris Rock comedy act states that one shouldn't eat green meat. No kidding.] It doesn't take a degree in rocket surgery to figure out something like that! ;oD

 

History

• Great Barrier Reef: Capt. James Cook discovered the world's largest coral reef (1770)
• Triple Crown: horse racing's top honor was won by Sir Barton (1919) and Seattle Slew (1977)
• sugar: US rationing ended after five bitter years (1947)
• Stand in the Schoolhouse Door: in a bid to resist racial integration, Alabama Governor George Wallace tried to block African-Americans Vivian Malone and James Hood from attending the University of Alabama; later that day he gave in (1963)
• immolation: Buddhist monk Quang Duc set himself afire on a Saigon street to protest the South Vietnamese government led by president Ngo Dinh Diem (1963)
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: heartwarming sci-fi blockbuster film opened (1982)
• American Idol: the British spinoff debuted with judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson (2002)

Birthdays

• Ben Johnson 1572 - English Renaissance Dramatist
• John Constable 1776 - English Romantic painter
• Jeannette Rankin 1880 - First woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives
• Bartolomeo Vanzetti 1888 - Known for his conviction of robbery and executed along with Nicola Sacco after a controversial trial in Massachusetts.
• Lawrence Spivak 1900 - Publisher, journalist
• Jacques Cousteau (Jacques-Yves Cousteau) 1910 - Naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker
• Risë Stevens 1913 - Opera singer
• Vince Lombardi 1913 - Football coach
• Richard Todd 1919 - Actor, soldier
• Shelly Manne (Sheldon Manne) 1920 - Drummer
• William Styron 1925 - Novelist and essayist
• Gene Wilder 1935 - Actor
• Chad Everett 1936 - Actor
• Johnny Brown 1937 - Actor
• Wilma Burgess 1939 - Country music singer
• Jackie Stewart (Sir John Young Stewart OBE) 1939 - Racing driver, team owner, nicknamed The Flying Scot
• Luciana Paluzzi 1939 - Actress
• Joey Dee (Joseph DiNicola) 1940 - Musician (Joey Dee and The Starliters)
• Adrienne Barbeau (Adrienne Jo Barbeau) 1945 - Actress, author
• John Lawton 1946 - Singer (Uriah Heep, Les Humphries Singers)
• Henry Cisneros (Henry Gabriel Cisneros) 1947 - Politician, businessman
• George Willig 1949 - Known as "the human fly" or "the spiderman," known for climbing the South Tower of the World Trade Center
• Ingrid Newkirk 1949 - Founder of PETA
• Frank Beard 1949 - Musician (ZZ Top)
• Pancho Carter 1950 - Race car driver
• Bonnie Pointer 1951 - Musician (Pointer Sisters)
• Connie Van Zandt 1952 - Musician (.38 Special)
• Peter Bergman 1953 - Actor ("All My Children," "Young and the Restless")
• Joe Montana 1956 - Football player
• Hugh Laurie 1959 - Actor ("House M.D.")
• Dan Lavery 1969 - Musician (Tonic)
• Smilin' Jay McDowell 1969 - Musician (BR5-49)
  Joshua Jackson 1978 - Actor
  Katelyn Nacon 1999 - actress (TWD)
  

   

   
  
  
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