In the Know #3

January 7, 2008


Word of the Day from Dictionary.com:

scrabble \SKRAB-uhl\, intransitive verb:

1. To scrape or scratch with the hands or feet.
2. To struggle by or as if by scraping or scratching.
3. To proceed by clawing with the hands and feet; to scramble.
4. To make irregular, crooked, or unmeaning marks; to scribble; to scrawl.

transitive verb:
1. To mark with irregular lines or letters; to scribble on or over.
2. To make or obtain by scraping together hastily.

noun:
1. The act or an instance of scrabbling.
2. A scribble.

Today in history, according to Wikipedia:

1610 - Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. They are known as the Galilean moons.

1835 - The HMS Beagle (cutaway pictured) anchors of the coast of Chonos Archipelago.

1924 - George Gershwin completes Rhapsody in Blue.

1927 - First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London.

1953 - President Harry Truman announces that the US has developed a hydrogen bomb.


Today's Famous Births:

1502 - Pope Gregory XII (pictured), for whom the Gregorian calendar is named.

1800 - Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States.

1891 - Zora Neale Hurston, American author, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

1948 - Kenny Loggins, American musician, "...highway to the Danger Zone!"

1957 - Katie Couric, American television host, "CBS Evening News" and, formerly, "Today" on NBC.

1964 - Nicholas Cage, American actor, National Treasure 1 & 2 and Raising Arizona.


Trivia:
Today's category - Futbol/Soccer

~ Dating to the second or third century BC in China, cuju is the earliest known sport with similarities to soccer.

~ The largest attendance for a soccer match was in July 1950 at Maracana Municipal Stadium (a.k.a. Estadio Jornalista Mario Filho, pictured) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazil played Uruguay for the World Cup in front of 199,854 people.

~ Pele scored 1281 goals in his career.

~ The international governing body of soccer is FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association.


I always wondered...
...what a presidential primary is...

The presidential primaries and caucuses are one of the first steps in the presidential election process. Individual states hold voting sessions or meetings to nominate their candidates for each party's national convention. The primary election gives the nomination of candidates to the people instead of the parties themselves.




The Iowa caucus (January 3) and New Hampshire primary (January 8) are the earliest candidate election events and often weigh heavily on eventual nomination.