4 December 2012

anodyne

[an-uh-dahyn]

noun

1. a medicine that relieves or allays pain.
2. anything that relieves distress or pain.

Example:

The music was an anodyne to his grief.

Today’s aphorism

‘The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell’.

– Confucius

On this day

4 December 1952 – A deadly smog in London caused by soot and sulphur dioxide from factories, cars and home coal-fires. It continues for four days and kills at least 4,000 people.

4 December 1954 – the first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida by James McLamore and David Edgerton.

4 December 1961 – the birth control contraceptive pill (‘the pill’) available publicly through the National Health Service.

4 December 1969 – 14 police shoot dead members of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton and Mary Clark, who were asleep in their apartment. The Black Panther Party was committed to racial equality and rights for African Americans.