Today in History (March 2nd):
1769: Birthdays: Statesman DeWitt Clinton, chief sponsor of the Erie Canal project.
1793: Birthdays: Sam Houston, first president of the Republic of Texas.
1810: Birthdays: Pope Leo XIII.
1829: Birthdays: Journalist, politician and reformer Carl Schurz.
1836: Texas proclaimed independence from Mexico.
1876: Birthdays: Pope Pius XII.
1897: Birthdays: Publisher Max Schuster.
1900: Birthdays: German composer Kurt Weill.
1902: Birthdays: Baseball player and World War II-era spy Moe Berg.
1904: Birthdays: Children’s author Dr. Seuss, Theodor Geisel.
1909: Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Fame member Mel Ott.
1917: Alexander II of Russia abdicated in favor of his brother Michael. Birthdays: Entertainer Desi Arnaz.
1919: Birthdays: Actor Jennifer Jones.
1925: The first system of interstate highway numbering was introduced in the United States.
1930: Birthdays: Actor John Cullum.
1931: Birthdays: Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; Writer Tom Wolfe.
1933: The movie King Kong premiered in New York.
1942: Birthdays: Author John Irving; Singer Lou Reed.
1943: In the Battle of Bismarck Sea, U.S. warplanes attacked a Japanese convoy en route to New Guinea in the South Pacific, eventually blocking Japan’s attempt to send in reinforcements.
1945: Units of the U.S. 9th Army reached the Rhine River opposite Dusseldorf, Germany.
1948: Birthdays: Irish musician Rory Gallagher.
1949: A U.S. Air Force plane piloted by Capt. James Gallagher completed the first non-stop around-the-world flight in just more than 94 hours.
1950: Birthdays: Singer Karen Carpenter.
1952: Birthdays: Comedian Laraine Newman.
1962: Philadelphia’s Wilt Chamberlain set the single-game NBA scoring record with 100 points against the New York Knicks. Birthdays: Rock singer Jon Bon Jovi.
1968: Birthdays: Actor Daniel Craig.
1977: Birthdays: Musician Chris Martin.
1982: Birthdays: NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
1991: Yugoslavia’s federal army was sent to Croatia to protect Serbs after violence erupted between Croatian security forces and villagers.
1992: U.S. President George H.W. Bush vetoed a bill linking improvements in human rights to continued most-favored-nation trade status for China.
1999: Texas Gov. George W. Bush, son of the former president, said he was setting up a committee to explore a run for the White House.
2000: A longtime political fundraiser for U.S. Vice President Al Gore was convicted for arranging more than $100,000 in illegal donations in 1996.
2004: U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., locked up the Democratic presidential nomination with a series of primary victories. At least 125 people died in explosions at two Shiite shrines in Iraq.
2005: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan urged Congress to scrutinize spending and taxes to help solve the problem of federal budget deficits that he called unsustainable.
2006: The United States and India announced agreement on a plan to allow India to buy U.S. nuclear fuel and reactor components. India in return reportedly would separate military and civilian nuclear programs and allow inspections.
2007: U.S. Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey announced his resignation amid charges of poor conditions for patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
2008: Outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s choice as his successor, Dmitri Medvedev, was elected president in a landslide. Putin remained in power as prime minister. The latest clash between Israel and Hamas continued to escalate with more than 100 Palestinians killed in five days of fighting.
2009: American International Group, the insurance giant whose massive failure helped bring on the global financial crisis, reported a record U.S. quarterly loss of $61.7 billion. The federal government in bailout and extended financing paid AIG about $180 billion to keep the firm afloat. The CIA was accused of destroying 92 tapes recording harsh interrogation proceedings with the al-Qaida terror suspects.
2010: U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a program that would offer rebates to American consumers who invest to make their homes energy efficient.
2011: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that an anti-gay Kansas church had a constitutional right to stage a peaceful protest at the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq. The religious group claimed war deaths were God’s punishment of Americans for a tolerance of homosexuality and carried such placards as Thank God for dead soldiers.
2012: Oil and gas giant BP reached a settlement with lawyers for more than 120,000 plaintiffs, victims of the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP put the cost at $7.8 billion.
Quotes
“Sometimes when you stand face to face with someone, you cannot see his face.” – Mikhail Gorbachev
“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” – The Dalai Lama
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“The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” – Lucille Ball
“If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.” – Albert Camus, writer, philosopher, Nobel laureate (1913-1960)
“Twin Mystery. To many people artists seem”
“undisciplined and lawless.”
“Such laziness, with such great gifts,”
“seems little short of crime.”
“One mystery is how they make”
“the things they make so flawless;”
“another, what they’re doing with”
“their energy and time.”
– Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931- ) Soviet political leader:
“Certain people in the United States are driving nails into this structure of our relationship, then cutting off the heads. So the Soviets must use their teeth to pull them out.”
“Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life.”
“I am a Communist, a convinced Communist! For some that may be a fantasy. But to me it is my main goal.”
“If people don’t like Marxism, they should blame the British Museum.”
“It is better to discuss things, to argue and engage in polemics than make perfidious plans of mutual destruction.”
“Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind.”
“More socialism means more democracy, openness and collectivism in everyday life.”
“My life’s work has been accomplished. I did all that I could.”
“Our enemy sees us clearly. They will not start a war. They’re worried about one thing: If democracy develops here, if we succeed, we will win.”
“Sometimes when you stand face to face with someone, you cannot see his face.”
“Surely, God on high has not refused to give us enough wisdom to find ways to bring us an improvement in relations between the two great nations on earth.”
scart
PRONUNCIATION: (skart)
MEANING: (verb tr., intr.), To scratch, scrape or scar.
ETYMOLOGY: Metathetic variation of scrat, to scratch.
USAGE: “Despite extensive renovation, traces of barbed wire still scart the walls of what had once been an internment camp.”
diktat
PRONUNCIATION: (dik-TAT)
http://wordsmith.org/words/diktat.mp3
MEANING: (noun)
1. An order or decree imposed without popular consent.
2. A harsh settlement imposed upon a defeated party.
ETYMOLOGY: From German Diktat (command, order), from Latin dictatum (something dictated), from dictare (to dictate), frequentative of dicere (to say). Ultimately from the Indo-European root deik- (to show, to pronounce solemnly), which is also the source of words such as judge, verdict, vendetta, revenge, indicate, dictate, paradigm, interdict and fatidic. Earliest documented use: 1922, in reference to the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, by Germany.
USAGE: “Public participation in politics [in China] may not yet be approaching the raucousness in India, but it is equally incorrect to view the Chinese as obedient zombies silently following the State’s every diktat.” – Cultural Evolution; Hindustan Times (New Delhi, India); Dec 19, 2010.
potlatch
PRONUNCIATION: (POT-lach)
http://wordsmith.org/words/potlatch.mp3
MEANING: (noun)
1. A party or get-together.
2. A ceremonial festival among American Indians of the Pacific Northwest involving feasts, lavish gift giving, dances, etc.
ETYMOLOGY: From Chinook Jargon, from Nootka patshatl (to give, gift).
USAGE: “‘[The youth ambassadors] were coming to the biggest potlatch in the world, sharing and developing a sense of pride in who they are,’ Diane Strand says.” – Shelley Fralic; World’s Biggest Potlatch Changing Attitudes; Vancouver Sun (Canada); Feb 24, 2010.
Explore “potlatch” in the Visual Thesaurus.
http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=potlatch
moue
PRONUNCIATION: (moo)
http://wordsmith.org/words/moue.mp3
MEANING: (noun), Pout; grimace.
ETYMOLOGY: From French moue (pout), from Middle French moe.
USAGE: “You can almost see the helpless little shrug of the shoulders that accompanies it and the moue of that perfectly lipsticked mouth.” – Allison Pearson; How to Eat For Petite; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Jan 15, 2005.