Today in History (July 1st):
1646: Birthdays: German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz.
1804: Birthdays: French novelist George Sand, a pseudonym for Amandine Dupin.
1847: The first U.S. postage stamps were issued.
1859: The first intercollegiate baseball game was played in Pittsfield, Mass. Amherst beat Williams, 66-32.
1862: The Russian State Library was founded.
1867: Canada was granted its independence by Great Britain. It consisted at the time of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and future provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
1869: Birthdays: Grammarian William Strunk Jr.
1872: Birthdays: Pioneer aviator Louis Bleriot.
1874: The Philadelphia Zoological Society, the first U.S. zoo, opened to the public.
1879: Birthdays: French Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leon Jouhaux.
1893: U.S. President Grover Cleveland underwent secret surgery to remove a cancerous growth in his mouth. The operation didn’t become public knowledge until a newspaper article about it was published on Sept. 22, 1917 — nine years after Cleveland’s death.
1898: Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders led a charge up Cuba’s heavily fortified San Juan Hill in a key Spanish-American War battle.
1899: Birthdays: Actor Charles Laughton; Blues, gospel musician, composer Thomas Dorsey.
1902: Birthdays: Film director William Wyler.
1906: Birthdays: Cosmetics executive Estee Lauder.
1915: Birthdays: Blues musician Willie Dixon.
1916: In the worst single day of casualties in British military history, 20,000 soldiers were killed and 40,000 wounded in a massive offense against German forces in France’s Somme River region during World War I. Birthdays: Actor Olivia de Havilland.
1931: Birthdays: Actor Leslie Caron.
1932: Democrats nominated Franklin Delano Roosevelt for president. FDR eventually was elected to four consecutive terms.
1934: Birthdays: Filmmaker/actor Sydney Pollack; Actor/writer Jean Marsh; Actor Jamie Farr.
1939: Birthdays: Actor Karen Black.
1941: NBC broadcast the first FCC-sanctioned TV commercial, a spot for Bulova watches shown during a Dodgers-Phillies game. It cost Bulova $9. Birthdays: Choreographer Twyla Tharp.
1942: Birthdays: Actor Genevieve Bujold.
1945: Birthdays: Singer Deborah Harry.
1946: The United States conducted its first post-war test of the atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
1952: Birthdays: Actor/comedian Dan Aykroyd.
1961: Birthdays: Britain’s Princess Diana; Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis.
1962: Birthdays: Actor Andre Braugher.
1967: Birthdays: Actor Pamela Anderson.
1971: Birthdays: Rapper Missy Elliott.
1977: Birthdays: Actor Liv Tyler.
1979: Sony introduced the Walkman, known as the Soundabout, in U.S. stores. It sold for about $200.
1990: The West and East German economies were united, with the deutsche mark replacing the mark as currency in East Germany.
1991: The Warsaw Pact ceased to exist.
1994: The U.N. Security Council authorized a commission to investigate acts of genocide in Rwanda.
1997: Hong Kong was returned to China after 99 years as a British territory.
2002: In a rare high-altitude accident, a passenger airliner collided with a cargo plane over Germany, killing all 71 people on the two planes — 69 on the airliner and two on the cargo aircraft.
2004: Hollywood legend Marlon Brando died of lung failure. He was 80.
2005: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, announced she planned to retire.
2007: Moshe Katsav stepped down as president of Israel, a post he had held since 2000. Rape charges against him were dropped in exchange for a guilty plea to sexual harassment.
2010: A U.S. government report said 60 American military personnel died in Afghanistan in June — the war’s highest monthly toll. Overall, 102 coalition forces were killed during the month, also a record, attributed in part to expanded military operations against the Taliban.
2011: Rhode Island became the latest state to allow same-sex civil unions.
2012: An Israeli military court sentenced a former Hamas commander, Ibrahim Hamed, to 54 life-in-prison terms for his role in 2001-03 terror attacks that killed scores of Israelis.
Quotes
“It is the dull man who is always sure and the sure man who is always dull.” – H.L. Mencken
“Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who locked in what cage.” – Ray Bradbury, writer (1920-2012)
“No man was ever wise by chance.” – Seneca, 4 B.C.-65 A.D.
“As the sculptor devotes himself to wood and stone, I would devote myself to my soul.” – Toyohiko Kagawa, 1888-1960
“The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society.” – Skousen
“Literature is the language of society, as speech is the language of man.” – Louis de Bonald, philosopher and politician (1754-1840)
“Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing. It’s one of the most enjoyable moments in life, period.” – Nicholas Sparks, author (b. 1965)
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George Sand (1804-1876) French writer:
“Charity degrades those who receive it and hardens those who dispense it.”
“Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.”
“Faith is an excitement and an enthusiasm: it is a condition of intellectual magnificence to which we must cling as to a treasure, and not squander on our way through life in the small coin of empty words, or in exact and priggish argument.”
“He who draws noble delights from sentiments of poetry is a true poet, though he has never written a line in all his life.”
“I regard as a mortal sin not only the lying of the senses in matters of love, but also the illusion which the senses seek to create where love is only partial. I say, I believe, that one must love with all of one’s being, or else live, come what may, a life of complete chastity.”
“I see upon their noble brows the seal of the Lord, for they were born kings of the earth far more truly than those who possess it only from having bought it.”
“Life in common among people who love each other is the ideal of happiness.”
“No one makes a revolution by himself; and there are some revolutions which humanity accomplishes without quite knowing how, because it is everybody who takes them in hand.”
farrago
PRONUNCIATION: (fuh-RAH-go; fuh-RAY-go)
MEANING: (noun), A confused mixture; an assortment; a medley.
ETYMOLOGY: Farrago comes from the Latin farrago, “a mixed fodder for cattle,” hence “a medley, a hodgepodge,” from far, a sort of grain.
USAGE: “Appearing on the chat show for the first time, Jenkins was subjected to a farrago of attacks from all sides such that he couldn’t determine how to best defend himself.”
fustilarian
PRONUNCIATION: (fuhs-tuh-LAR-ee-uhn)
http://wordsmith.org/words/fustilarian.mp3
MEANING: (noun), A fat and slovenly person.
ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English fusty (smelly, moldy). Earliest documented use: 1600.
NOTES: The first recorded use of the word is from Shakespeare’s Henry IV in which Falstaff exclaims, “Away, you scullion! You rampallion! You fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe.”
USAGE: “I’ve no fancy to be guzzled up by a wolf or spitted on the tusks of one of the fustilarian wild boars.” – Joan Aiken; Whispering Mountain; Starscape; 2002.
Explore “fustilarian” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=fustilarian
monology
PRONUNCIATION: (muh-NOL-uh-jee)
http://wordsmith.org/words/monology.mp3
MEANING: (noun)
1. A long speech by someone, especially when interfering with conversation.
2. The habit of monologizing.
ETYMOLOGY: From Greek mono- (one) + -logy (speech). Earliest documented use: 1608.
USAGE: “She mumbled, continuing her monology.” – Paul Jopling; Boleslaw’s Curse; Dog Ear Publishing; 2006.
feculent
PRONUNCIATION: (FEK-yuh-luhnt)
http://wordsmith.org/words/feculent.mp3
MEANING: (adjective), Full of filth or waste matter.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin faeculentus (full of dregs), from faeces, plural of faex (dregs).
USAGE: “And there is the pool of trash sitting in the North Pacific — a continent of plastic that will not decompose. Imagine if another species just shoveled feculent matter all over our home?” – Brittany De Avilan; Deny Warming If You Wish, But Pollution Is Real; The Bee (Sacramento, California); Dec 24, 2009.
Explore “feculent” in the Visual Thesaurus
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=feculent
jive
PRONUNCIATION: (jyv)
http://wordsmith.org/words/jive.mp3
MEANING:
(verb tr., intr.)
1. To deceive, to flatter, to taunt, to talk nonsense.
2. To go together, to fit in.
(adjective), Insincere or deceptive.
(noun)
1. Jazz or swing music and related dance.
2. Insincere, pretentious, or exaggerated talk.
ETYMOLOGY: Origin unknown.
USAGE:
“The edict by state and city officials that we Durham residents should let water run out of faucets for three or four minutes before drinking it or using it to cook with may indeed be the solution to the lead threat that has been discovered in the city’s water supply. But what if they are jiving us? Surely I’m not the only cynic.” – Barry Saunders; Money Flows With Water Woes; The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina); Sep 2, 2006.
“Designwise, the focus remains on the house-garden connection — the need for garden rooms and plants to jive with architecture and interiors.” – Turning over a new leaf; Los Angeles Times; May 21, 2000.