Today’s WOTD – 30 August 2012

Yex

noun, intrasitive verb

1. to hiccup or belch.

‘He yexeth and he speaketh through the nose‘ – Chaucer.

Examples:

‘As the pre-dawn light softly illuminated the house, John’s deep sleep was shattered by an involuntary, yet deafening yex, unleashed from the deepest fathoms of his slumbering wife’s famished stomach’.

Today’s aphorism

‘Even as the fingers of the two hands are equal, so are human beings equal to one another. No one has any right, nor any preference to claim over another. You are brothers.’

Muhammad, the Last Sermon, ninth day of Dhul Hijjah 10 A.H. (c 630 AD) at Mecca

On this day

30 August 580 – birth of Muhammad, prophet and founder of Islam.

30 August 1146 – European leaders optimistically outlaw the cross-bow with the belief that it will end war for evermore. The ban was flouted and cross-bows continued to be used until they were replaced by fire-arms in the 16^th century.

Today’s WOTD – 29 August 2012

ignotum per ignotius 

[ɪɡˈnəʊtʊm pər ɪɡˈnəʊtɪʊs]

— noun (latin)

1. An attempt to explain something obscure in terms of something else which is even more obscure.

2. (logic) A type of fallacious argument in which one attempts to prove something unknown by relying upon an assumption that is also unknown.

[literally: the unknown by means of the more unknown]

For example (from Wikipedia):

“The oven felt hot because of Fourier’s Law.” It is unlikely that a person unfamiliar with the hotness of ovens would be illuminated by a reference to the fundamental laws of physics. Of course, such a person might exist in theory, so ignotum per ignotius is not strictly a logical fallacy; it is just a criticism of an argument on rhetorical grounds, stating that such an argument is not useful in a particular context.

Today’s aphorism

‘quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur‘

Latin phrase which translates as, ‘whatever is said in Latin sounds profound‘ … A fairly recent phrase mocking those who use latin phrases so that they sound more intelligent.

On this day

29 August 29AD – John the Baptist beheaded.

29 August 1991 – the Supreme Soviet of the USSR suspends the Communist Party. The Soviet Union was formally dissolved on 26 December 1991.

29 August 2001 – death of Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strachan, in a helicopter crash near Maroochydore, Queensland. Lead singer of Australian band, Skyhooks.

29 August 2005 – Hurricane Katrina strikes southeastern United States with wind speeds reaching 280km/h. New Orleans is one of the worst hit areas. At least 1,836 people died in the storm and subsequent flooding.

Today’s WOTD – 28 August 2012

gumption   

[guhmp-shuhn]
noun Informal
1. initiative; aggressiveness; resourcefulness. For example: ‘With his gumption he’ll make a success of himself’.
2. courage; spunk; guts. For example: ‘It takes gumption to quit a high-paying job’.
3. common sense; shrewdness.

Today’s aphorism

‘Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little’.

Edmunde Burke

On this day

Nothing exciting happened on this day … except for:

28 August 1837 – Worcestershire Sauce manufactured by John Lea and William Perrins.

Today’s WOTD – 27 August 2012

Limerence

– being overwhelming in love with someone and strongly desiring they return that love.

(definition from Wikipedia):

A term coined c. 1977 by the psychologist Dorothy Tennov to describe an involuntary state of mind which seems to result from a romantic attraction to another person combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one’s feelings reciprocated. The concept grew out of Tennov’s mid-1960s work, when she interviewed over 500 people on the topic of love, and was first published in her 1979 book Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love.

Today’s aphorism

‘Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.’

― Haile Selassie I

On this day

27 August 1883 – the world’s biggest recorded explosion occurs on Krakatoa, an Indonesian island as a volcano erupts, killing between 36,000 and 120,000 people. The noise is heard in Perth, Western Australia, 3,500km away and Mauritius, 4,800km away where it was thought to be cannon fire. Tsunamis up to 30m high were recorded. It generated a cloud of ash 27km high. In the 12 months after the explosion, global temperatures fell by 1.2^oC. The explosion darkened the sky for years afterward.

27 August 1975 – death of Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia. Although Selassie was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, Rastafarians believe that he is the Messiah returned.

Today’s WOTD – 26 August 2012

empyrean

[em-puh-ree-uhn, -pahy-, em-pir-ee-uhn, -pahy-ree-]

— n
1. archaic the highest part of the (supposedly spherical) heavens, thought in ancient times to contain the pure element of fire and by early Christians to be the abode of God and the angels
2. poetic the heavens or sky

— adj
3. of or relating to the sky, the heavens, or the empyrean
4. heavenly or sublime
5. archaic composed of fire

[from Medieval Latin empyreus, from Greek empuros fiery, from pur fire]

Example Sentences
The professional bailiwick we’ve staked out is the empyrean of pure thought.
From the ninth sphere to the empyrean, which is mere light.

Today’s aphorism

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ARE MORE
EQUAL THAN OTHERS

– George Orwell, Animal Farm, Ch. 10

‘No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.’
– George Orwell, Animal Farm, Ch. 10

On this day

26 August 580 – toilet paper invented by the Chinese.

26 August 1910 – birth of Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) in Yugoslavia, winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work in the slums of Calcutta.

26 August 1946 – George Orwell’s revolutionary novel, Animal Farm, is published.

Today’s WOTD – 25 August 2012

contiguous

[kuhn-tig-yoo-uhs]

adjective

1. touching along the side or boundary; in contact
2. physically adjacent; neighbouring
3. preceding or following in time.

For example:

a. Most units have private outdoor space either contiguous to the apartment or on the roof.

b. The museum makes a good starting point for a walk along one of the longest contiguous sections of this ancient structure.

c. The district is billed as the nation’s largest contiguous urban arts district, and that’s not its only distinction.

Today’s aphorism

Gene Simmons

‘Life is too short to have anything but delusional notions about yourself‘.

On this day

25 August 325 – conclusion of the First Council of Nicea, a cabal of 1800 bishops convened by Roman Emperor Constantine I (Constantine the Great) to gain consensus within the church for various doctrinal issues, such as the divinity of Christ, the Holy Trinity and the date for Easter which were articulated in the ‘Creed of Nicea’. The Council was officially opened on 20 May 325.

25 August 1227 – death of Genghis Khan, founder and emperor of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest, contiguous empire in history. At its peak, it covered stretched from Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan, and included Southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent, the Iranian Plateau and the Middle East. It covered 24 million km² (16% of the Earth’s total land area) and had a population of over 100 million.

25 August 1330 – Antipope Nicolaas V overthrows himself by presenting a confession of sins to Pope John XXII, who absolved him. Nicolaas V had previously been excommunicated by Pope John XXII. After his absolution, Nicolaas V was held in ‘honourable imprisonment’ in the papal palace at Avignon until his death in 1333.

25 August 1949 – birth of Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz) in Haifa, Israel. American rock guitarist and song-writer. Co-founder of Kiss.

25 August 1991 – founding of computer operating system, Linux, by Linus Torvalds.