Today in History (June 24th):
1441: Eton College was founded.
1812: Napoleon’s army entered Russia.
1813: Birthdays: Clergyman Henry Ward Beecher.
1842: Birthdays: Writer and satirist Ambrose Bierce.
1895: Birthdays: Heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey.
1901: Pablo Picasso’s artwork had its first exhibition in Paris. Birthdays: Basketball player and shoe designer Chuck Taylor.
1904: Birthdays: Band leader Phil Harris.
1915: Birthdays: British astronomer Fred Hoyle; Author/editor Norman Cousins.
1931: Birthdays: Golf Hall of Fame member Billy Casper.
1933: Birthdays: Basketball Hall of Fame member Sam Jones.
1942: Birthdays: Actor Michele Lee.
1944: Birthdays: British member of the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame Jeff Beck.
1947: Birthdays: British member of the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame Mick Fleetwood; Actor Peter Weller.
1948: Soviet forces blockaded the western zones of Berlin, setting the stage for the Berlin airlift to support the 2 million people of the divided German city.
1950: Birthdays: Actor Nancy Allen.
1975: An Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 en route from New Orleans crashed at New York’s Kennedy International airport, killing 114 people.
1986: Actor Raquel Welch won a $10.8 million verdict against MGM, which she said ruined her career by firing her from the 1980 movie Cannery Row.
1987: Birthdays: Four-time FIFA Player of the Year Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi. Deaths: Comedian/actor Jackie Gleason died at the age of 71.
1992: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that health warnings on cigarette packs don’t necessarily exempt tobacco companies from false advertising lawsuits if they continue to tell consumers that smoking is safe.
2003: Author Leon Uris, who wrote Exodus, the story of the struggle to establish and defend the state of Israel, and other famous novels, died at age 78.
2006: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected a White House request to send another 1,500 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to protect against illegal immigration. The state earlier had agreed to send 1,000 troops to the border.
2008: A survivor of a Philippines ferry that capsized in a typhoon told authorities the captain’s order to abandon ship came too late to help many of the 849 passengers and crew members. Philippines officials said 57 passengers were found alive in the three days following the storm.
2009: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina. He resigned as chairman of the GOP governors association but stayed on as governor.
2010: Julia Gillard was sworn in as Australia’s first female prime minister. John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-3), 70-68 in a first-round match played over three days at Wimbledon. The match took 11 hours, 5 minutes and 183 games to decide a winner.
2011: New York state legislators approved same-sex marriage. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who pushed for the proposal, promptly signed it into law.
2012: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi was elected president of Egypt.
Quotes
“Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, psychiatrist and author (1926-2004)
“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring.” – Martin Luther King, Jr., civil-rights leader (1929-1968)
“Each morning puts a man on trial and each evening passes judgment.” – Roy L. Smith
“If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues.” – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, author (1803-1873)
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) U.S. writer:
“A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms agains himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.”
“A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.”
“Ability is commonly found to consist mainly in a high degree of solemnity.”
“Aborigines, n.: Persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country. They soon cease to cumber; they fertilize.”
“Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends.”
“Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.”
“Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one’s own opinion.”
“Academe, n.: An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught. Academy, n.: A modern school where football is taught.”
“Acquaintance. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.”
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practicable
PRONUNCIATION: (PRAK-tik-uh-buhl)
MEANING: (adjective)
1. Capable of being done, accomplished, or put into practice; feasible; as, “a practicable method; a practicable aim.”
2. Capable of being used; usable.
ETYMOLOGY: Practicable derives from Late Latin practicare, “to act; to practice,” from practicus, from Greek praktikos, “able in; fit for; doing; active,” from prassein, “to do; to do habitually.”
USAGE: “We changed, and I had not made up my mind, and still reflected for my comfort that it would be quite practicable to get down and walk back, when we changed again.” — Charles Dickens, ‘Great Expectations’
skunky
PRONUNCIATION: (SKUNG-kee)
http://wordsmith.org/words/skunky.mp3
MEANING: (adjective)
1. Mean or contemptible.
2. Having an unpleasant odor.
3. Of or relating to a skunk.
ETYMOLOGY: From skunk, an animal that ejects a foul-smelling liquid when frightened. Derived from an Algonquian language. Earliest documented use: 1897.
USAGE:
“I had a couple of skunky-sounding audience tapes, tinkling out distant brown scurf from Nassau Coliseum.” – Ben Ratliff; Bring Out Your Dead; The New York Times; Apr 10, 2009.
“The battle over campaign disclosure in Idaho’s education-reform campaign is the latest skunky fruit of Citizens United.” – Shawn Vestal; Ills of Citizens United Visible in Idaho Election; Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington); Oct 26, 2012.
durance
PRONUNCIATION: (DOO-ruhns, DYOO-)
http://wordsmith.org/words/durance.mp3
MEANING: (noun)
1. Endurance.
2. Imprisonment or confinement, especially a long one. (Often used in the phrase ‘durance vile’)
ETYMOLOGY: From French durance (duration), from durer (to last), from Latin durare (to last), from durus (hard). Earliest documented use: 1513.
USAGE:
“The durance of a granite ledge.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson; 1847.
“And from that durance he is still waiting for release.” – John Banville; Athena; Knopf; 1995.
Explore ‘durance” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=durance
esurient
PRONUNCIATION: (i-SOOR-ee-uhnt)
http://wordsmith.org/words/esurient.mp3
MEANING: (adjective), Hungry; greedy.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin esurire (to be hungry), from edere (to eat). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ed- (to eat, to bite) that has also given us edible, comestible, obese, etch, fret, edacious, prandial, and postprandial.
USAGE:
“Rising land values have drawn droves of esurient developers.” – Melissa Cassutt; Study Reminds Bonita of Need for Greenspace; Marco Eagle (Marco Island, Florida); Jan 11, 2006.
“This daily show sends esurient teenage aficionados to the cultural birthplace of their favourite dishes.” – It’s Cold Turkey for the Junk Food Junkies; Evening Standard (London, UK); May 11, 2007.
Explore “esurient” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=esurient
countervail
PRONUNCIATION: (koun-tuhr-VAYL)
http://wordsmith.org/words/countervail.mp3
MEANING: (verb tr., intr.), To counterbalance or to neutralize.
ETYMOLOGY: From Old French contrevaloir, from Latin contra (against) + valere (to be strong). Ultimately, from the Indo-European root wal- (to be strong) that is also the source of valiant, avail, valor, and value.
USAGE: “China is the unique case of a country arming a neighbour with nuclear weapons to countervail a rival.” – K. Subrahmanyam; Befriending the Dragon; The Times of India (New Delhi); Jul 5, 2004.