23 December 2015
witzelsucht
[vit-zuhl-sookht]
noun
– a psychological disease that causes sufferers to speak in puns, usually at the most inopportune or inappropriate time (also known as ‘the joking disease’).
– a joke that falls flat.
Origin
German
witzeln meaning to joke or wisecrack, and sucht, meaning addiction or yearning
Anagram
scuttle whiz
Today’s quote
It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome. Its appeal is to the material part, and if allowed its way, it will in time disturb one’s spiritual balance. Therefore, children must early learn the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.
– Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman), Wahpeton Santee Sioux
On this day
23 December 1947 – Bell demonstrates the world’s first transistor radio.
23 December 1972 – 16 survivors of a plane-crash in the Andes, Argentina are rescued. The plane had crashed on 13 October 1972, carrying 45 people. A number of passengers were killed in the crash and some died later from exposure to the cold. Eight died in an avalanche. The survivors lived on chocolate bars, cabin food and the bodies of those who had died.
23 December 1982 – Israeli Consulate in Sydney and Hakoah Club in Bondi, Australia, bombings – both bombings were undertaken by the same three suspects. Two people were injured in the Israeli Consulate bombing and no injuries were recorded in the Hakoah bombing.
23 December 2005 – an earthquake in South-East Asia kills approximately 87,000 people, followed by a chemical spill that poisons China’s Songhue River, contaminating the water supply of millions of people.
23 December 2013 – death of Mikhail Kalashnikov, Soviet Union hero, inventor of the world’s most popular assault weapon, the AK-47, or ‘Kalashnikov’. The AK-47 stood for Kalashnikov Assault, 1947, the year it was designed. He was awarded the ‘Hero of Russia’ medal as well as Lenin and Stalin prizes. Kalashnikov invented the AK-47 to protect the national borders of the Soviet Union. The AK-47 has a simple design, which makes it very reliable and easy to replicate. Kalashnikov hadn’t patented the design internationally. As a result, of the estimated 100 million AK-47s in the world today, it is believed that at least half are copies. Although his weapon has been favoured by armies and guerillas across the globe, Kalashnikov claimed he never lost sleep over the numbers of people killed by it. He always maintained that he invented it to protect the ‘Fatherland’s borders’. He did however, rue the use of it by child soldiers. Kalashnikov was a World War II veteran who was wounded in 1941. While recovering in hospital he conceived the design. Born 10 November 1919.