8 August 2014
scintillate
[sin-tl-eyt]
verb (used without object), scin·til·lat·ed, scin·til·lat·ing.
1. to emit sparks.
2. to sparkle; flash: a mind that scintillates with brilliance.
3. to twinkle, as the stars.
4. Electronics. (of a spot of light or image on a radar display) to shift rapidly around a mean position.
5. Physics.
a. (of the amplitude, phase, or polarization of an electromagnetic wave) to fluctuate in a random manner.
b. (of an energetic photon or particle) to produce a flash of light in a phosphor by striking it.
verb (used with object), scin·til·lat·ed, scin·til·lat·ing.
6. to emit as sparks; flash forth.
Origin:
1615–25; < Latin scintillātus (past participle of scintillāre to send out sparks, flash). See scintilla, -ate1
Anagram
elastic lint
a lit stencil
a client list
Today’s aphorism
Writing is the painting of the voice.
– Voltaire
On this day
8 August 1864 – Formation of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland.
8 August 1945 – The Soviet Union declares war on the Empire of Japan and invades the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. In late, July 1945 Japan, naively, had been petitioning the neutral Soviets to broker a peace deal favourable to the Japanese. While the invasion violated the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, it was in accordance with the secret Yalta Agreements that the Soviet Union made with the United States and the United Kingdom at the Crimea Conference held between 4-11 February 1945, in which Stalin agreed to attack Japan within 3 months of Germany’s surrender.
8 August 1959 – death of Albert Namatjira, Australian Aboriginal artist. Born 28 July 1902.
8 August 1974 – USA President Richard Nixon resigns because of his impending impeachment for ‘obstruction of justice’, ‘abuse of power’, and ‘contempt of congress’, in relation to the Watergate Scandal.
8 August 1979 – birthday of Emiliano Zapata Salazar, Mexican revolutionary.
8 August 1981 – birthday of Roger Federer in Switzerland, champion tennis player.
8 August 1988 – The ’8888′ Uprising in Burma, from which Aung Sun Suu Kyi gains popularity and becomes a national hero.