11 January 2014

chatoyant

[shuh-toi-uhnt]

adjective

1. changing in luster or color: chatoyant silk.
2. Jewelry. reflecting a single streak of light when cut in a cabochon.
noun
3. Jewelry. a cabochon-cut gemstone having this reflected streak, as a chrysoberyl cat’s-eye.
Vernacular
4. like a cat’s eye: her chatoyant gaze
Origin:

1790–1800; < French, special use of present participle of chatoyer to change luster like a cat’s eye, equivalent to chat cat 1 + -oy- v. suffix + -ant -ant

Related forms
cha·toy·ance, cha·toy·an·cy, noun

Anagram

Any hot cat
Ah no catty
Chat to any
Yacht at on
To achy ant

Today’s aphorism

My own experience and development deepen every day my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy.

– George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880)

On this day

11 January 1986 – Brisbane’s Gateway Bridge opens.

11 January 2008 – death of Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. Hillary and sherpa Tbeenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Mt Everest.

11 January 2011 – flood-waters from the Lockyer Valley reach the Brisbane River catchment, causing the river to break its banks, flooding the CBD and other river-side suburbs, including New Farm, Fortitude Valley, West End, St Lucia, Rocklea and Graceville, inundating 20,000 homes. The Brisbane River peaked on 13 January 2013 at a height of 4.46m. The city of Ipswich was also inundated, with the Bremer River peaking on 12 January 2011. The worst affected areas included Goodna and Gailes. There were reports of bull sharks in the city centre of Goodna. A total of 35 people died as a result of the flooding in Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley, Brisbane and Ipswich.

10 January 2014

manacle

[man-uh-kuhl]

noun

1. a shackle for the hand; handcuff.
2. Usually, manacles. restraints; checks.

verb (used with object), man·a·cled, man·a·cling.

3. to handcuff; fetter.
4. to hamper; restrain: He was manacled by his inhibitions.

Origin:

1275–1325; Middle English, variant of manicle < Middle French: handcuff < Latin manicula small hand, handle of a plow. See manus, -i-, -cle1

Related forms
un·man·a·cled, adjective

Anagram

am clean
can meal
lace man
cane lam

Today’s aphorism

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.

– Henry Ford

On this day

10 January 1946 – the inaugural meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, with 51 nations, convenes in London.

10 January 1949 – RCA introduces the world’s first vinyl record which played at 45rpm while Columbia released the world’s first vinyl record which played at 33rpm.

10 January 1998 – Night of Noah, Townsville. The city was drenched with rains from ex-Tropical Cyclone Sid. In a 24-hour period, 549mm fell on the city as recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology, however of this, more than 500mm during a 12 hour period. There were unofficial recordings that exceeded 700mm during this period.

10 January 2011 – Flash flooding strikes Toowoomba, Queensland, after 160mm of rain falls in 36 hours, killing four people. The flood water flowed down the Toowoomba range, inundating properties in the Lockyer Valley, including Grantham, Withcott, Helidon, killing nine people.

9 January 2014

bucolic

[byoo-kol-ik]

adjective Also, bu·col·i·cal.

1. of or pertaining to shepherds; pastoral.
2. of, pertaining to, or suggesting an idyllic rural life.
noun
3. a pastoral poem.
4. Archaic. a farmer; shepherd; rustic.

Origin:
1525–35; < Latin būcolicus < Greek boukolikós rustic, equivalent to boukól ( os ) herdsman ( bou-, stem of boûs ox + -kolos keeper + -ikos -ic

Related forms
bu·col·i·cal·ly, adverb

Synonyms
2, 3. georgic.

Anagram

cub coil

Today’s quote

Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait and all will be revealed

– from the Led Zeppelin song, Kashmir, written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant

On this day

9 January 1324 – death of Marco Polo, Italian explorer. Born 15 September 1254.

9 January 1944 – birth of Jimmy Page, legendary British guitarist and song-writer. Co-founder of iconic rock band, Led Zeppelin.

8 January 2014

apostasy

[uh-pos-tuh-see]

noun, plural a·pos·ta·sies.

– a total desertion of or departure from one’s religion, principles, party, cause, etc.

Origin:

1350–1400; Middle English apostasye (< Anglo-French ) < Late Latin apostasia < Greek: a standing away, withdrawing, equivalent to apóstas ( is ) ( apo- apo- + sta- stand + -sis -sis) + -ia -ia

Anagram

Yo pastas
Soy pasta
Sat soapy

Today’s aphorism

Some people are old at 18 and some are young at 90 … time is a concept that humans created.

– Yoko Ono

On this day

8 January 1935 – birth of Elvis Aaron Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. Died 16 August 1977.

8 January 1947 – birthday of David Bowie, British musician and actor, born David Robert Jones.

8 January 1959 – Fidel Castro’s rebel forces take control of Cuba. Castro eventually became President and ruled the nation until 2011.

7 January 2013

bailey

[bey-lee]

noun, plural bai·leys.

1. the defensive wall surrounding an outer court of a castle.
2. the courtyard itself.

Anagram

bail ye

Today’s aphorism

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

– Mark Twain

On this day

7 January 1979 – Brutal Cambodian dictator, Pol Pot, is overthrown as Vietnamese forces invade Phnom Penh. Pol Pot and his army, the Khmer Rouge, were responsible for killing approximately 1.7 million people.

6 January 2014

amity

[am-i-tee]

noun

1. friendship; peaceful harmony.
2. mutual understanding and a peaceful relationship, especially between nations; peace; accord.
3. female name.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English amit ( i ) e < Middle French amitie, Old French amiste ( t ) < Vulgar Latin *amicitāt-, stem of amīcitās, derivative of Latin amīcus. See ami, amiable, -ity

Can be confused: enmity.

Anagram

may it

Today’s aphorism

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.

– Carl Sandburg

On this day

6 January – the Epiphany, which commemorates when the Three Wise Men of the East visited the baby Jesus, with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Epiphany is celebrated the day after the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’, which conclude on 5 January.

6 January 1925 – birth of John DeLorean, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan. The DeLorean with Gull-Wing doors was featured in the movie, ‘Back to the Future‘.

6 January 1973 – one of Hitler’s cars, a Mercedes 770K sedan, was auctioned on this day for $153,000,000.

6 January 1994 – Figure-skater Nancy Kerrigan is knee-capped in a violent attack as she was about to speak to reporters. Her rival, Tonya Harding, was accused of orchestrating the attack resulting in Harding and four men being charged and sentenced to jail.

6 January 2005 – Ku Klux Klan leader, Ray Killen, is arrested and charged over the murders of three civil rights activists in Philadelphia, more than 40 years previously. On 21 June 2005, (exactly 41 years to the day of the murders) Killen is found guilty of three counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years jail on each count.

5 January 2013

golem

[goh-luhm, -lem]

noun

1. Jewish Folklore. a figure artificially constructed in the form of a human being and endowed with life.
2. a stupid and clumsy person; blockhead.
3. an automaton.

Origin:
1895–1900; (< Yiddish goylem ) < Hebrew gōlem embryo, larva, cocoon

Anagram

Me log
elm go

Today’s aphorism

The greatest sin is of our time is not the few who have destroyed but the vast majority who sat idly by.

– Martin Luther King Jr

On this day

5 January 1914 – Henry Ford introduces the $5 per day wage, which was double the rate previously offered. Ford believed it would help him keep his best people and that it would enable his workers to buy Ford cars.

5 January 1933 – work commences on San Fransisco’s Golden Gate bridge. It was completed on 19 April 1937. The bridge is 2.7km long and 227.4m high.

5 January 1945 – Japanese Kamikaze pilots crash their planes into American ships, sinking 30 ships and killing approximately 5,000 Americans.

5 January 1968 – the ‘Prague Spring’ in Czechoslovakia occurred through the political and economic reforms of leader Alexander Dubcek aimed at introducing ‘socialism with a human face’. The reforms included freedom of speech and allowing non-communist political organisations. The Soviet Union were less enthusiastic about these reforms and invaded Czechoslovakia with 600,000 troops.

4 January 2014

scintilla

[sin-til-uh] /help/luna/Spell_pron_key.htmlShow IPA
noun
a minute particle; spark; trace: not a scintilla of remorse.

Origin:
1685–95; < Latin: spark

Anagram

lilac nits
can I still

Today’s aphorism

Kids don’t remember what you tried to teach them. They remember what you are.

– Jim Henson

On this day

4 January 1903 – Thomas Edison electrocutes an elephant to prove the dangers of ‘alternating current’ electricity. He had previously electrocuted stray cats and dogs and even horses and cows. He snidely referred to it as ‘getting Westinghoused’. Topsy, the elephant, had squashed 4 trainers at the Luna Park Zoo on Coney Island, so the zoo had decided to hang her, before someone suggested she ‘ride the lightning’. More on this at http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0104

4 January 1965 – death of Thomas Stearns Eliot (T.S. Eliot), poet, playwright, publisher, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, described as ‘arguably the most important English language poet of the 20th century’. Wrote ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock‘, ‘The Waste Land‘, ‘Ash Wednesday‘, ‘The Hollow Men‘. Born 26 September 1888.

3 January 2014

orenda

orenda

[aw-ren-duh, oh-ren-]

noun

– a supernatural force believed by the Iroquois Indians to be present, in varying degrees, in all objects or persons, and to be the spiritual force by which human accomplishment is attained or accounted for. E.g. He credited his orenda with the profound change in his life.
– inherent power.

Origin:

1902; coined by U.S. ethnologist J.N.B. Hewitt from the supposed Huron cognate of Mohawk orę́˙naʔ inherent power (akin to karę́˙naʔ song; compare Seneca oęnǫʔ power, song with power, kaęnǫʔ song)

Anagram

Dare on
Read on
Near do
A drone

Today’s aphorism

The more laws, the less justice.

– Marcus Tullius Cicero

On this day

3 January 106BC – birth of Marcus Tullius Cicero (sometimes Anglicised as Tully), Roman statesman, politician, philosopher, orator. Tully’s influence on Latin and other European languages was immense and still felt up to the 19th century. The history of prose in Latin and other languages was said to be either a reaction against, or a return to, his style. Died 7 December 43BC.

3 January 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

3 January 1892 – birth of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of ‘The Hobbit‘ and ‘Lord of the Rings‘. Died 2 September 1973. ‘The road goes ever on … ‘

3 January 1956 – birth of Mel Gibson, Australian actor.

3 January 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.

3 January 1969 – birth of Michael Schumacher, German Formula 1 racing car driver.

3 January 1977 – Apple Computers is incorporated.