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.