1 December 2012

aestivate / estivate

verb

1. to spend the summer at a specific place, or in a certain activity.

2. Zoology. to spend a hot, dry season in an inactive, dormant state, as certain reptiles, insects and small mammals.

aestivate – British spelling

estivate – U.S. spelling

Example:

‘Christmas in Australia! Is there any better place to estivate than at a quiet beach with friends?’.

Today’s aphorism

We’re all going on a summer holiday
No more working for a week or two
Fun and loughter on our summer holiday
No more worries for me or you

– from the song ‘Summer Holiday’, sung by Cliff Richard, written by Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett.

On this day

1 December 1901 – Britain and Russia in conflict over parts of Afghanistan, establish boundaries which eventually form modern Afghanistan.

1 December 1913 – Ford introduces the continuous moving assembly line which could produce a complete car every 2.5 minutes. This was a revolutionary change to car manufacturing and ultimately impacted on all manufacturing processes.

1 December 1919 – American-born Lady Astor is sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament. Lady Astor and Sir Winston Churchill developed a love/hate relationship which resulted in many famous quotes from their repartee. Lady Astor was not the first woman elected to Parliament however. The first was Constance Markiewicz, an Irish woman, who refused to take her seat because of her Irish nationalist views.

1 December 1942 – British Government accepts the Beveridge Report which proposed the establishment of a welfare system which would provide care for all people from cradle to grave.

1 December 1943 – conclusion of the ‘Tehran Conference’ during World War 2, in which the leaders of the three major allied powers, Churchill (Britain), Stalin (USSR) and Roosevelt (USA) met in Iran to discuss opening a second allied front against Germany. The conference also addressed Turkey, Iran, Yugoslavia and Japan, as well as post-war settlements between the three nations.