23 June 2016
empurple
\em-PUR-puhl\, verb:
1. To color or become purple or purplish.
2. To darken or redden; flush.
On one side are baby grapes whose petals yet fall; on another the clusters empurple towards full growth.
— Homer, translated by T.E. Lawrence, THE ODYSSEY
Magnificent weather, one of those sun risings that empurple landscapes, left the river all its limpid serenity.
— Alexandre Dumas, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK
‘Word has it that the Sydney Harbour Bridge will be empurpled after Queensland clinched its tenth State of Origin series win in eleven years’.
Empurple originated in the late 1580s from the Greek prefix em- meaning ‘to become’ and the color ‘purple,’ a word of Tyrian descent for the shellfish from which purple dye was made.
Anagram
Peel rump
meer pulp
Today’s quote
Taking steps is easy, standing still is hard
– Regina Spektor, ‘You’ve Got Time’, Theme song for Orange is the New Black.
On this day
23 June – International Widows’ Day – a UN ratified day to address the ‘poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents in many countries’.
23 June 1912 – birth of Alan Turing, British mathematician and computer scientist. Turing is considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. He invented the ‘Turing machine’ which formulated the computer algorithm. It’s the forerunner for the modern computer. During World War 2, Turing was instrumental in cracking German messages encrypted by the Enigma machine. Sadly, Turing’s achievements were overshadowed by him being charged with gross indecency after admitting to being in a homosexual relationship. On 31 March 1952, following his guilty plea, he was chemically castrated. Two years later, on 7 June 1954,Turing took his own life with cyanide. On 10 September 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologised on behalf of the British Government for the ‘appalling way he was treated’. On 23 December 2013, Queen Elizabeth II issued a posthumous royal pardon, clearing Turing of the charge of gross indecency.
23 June 2000 – 15 backpackers perish in a fire at the Palace Backpackers Hostel, in Childers, Queensland, Australia.
23 June 2011 – death of Peter Falk, U.S. actor (Colombo) … ‘therrre ya go‘… (born 16 September 1927).