Monday, August 6, 2012

Brief Point Of Interest


_____

Curiosity, the one-ton, six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover has landed on Mars.

Chicago Tribune Story

_____


Gyrfalcon


The Gyrfalcon, also spelled gerfalcon, -- Falco rusticolus -- is the largest of the falcon species. The Gyrfalcon breeds on Arctic coasts and the islands of North America, Europe, and Asia. It is mainly resident there also, but some Gyrfalcons disperse more widely after the breeding season, or in winter. The Gyrfalcon is dispersed throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, with populations in Northern America, Greenland, and Northern Europe. Its plumage varies with location, with birds being coloured from all-white to dark brown.



When I was just a little kid I heard a short rhyme and never forgot it:

Birdie birdie in the sky,
Shooting whitewash in my eye.
I'm no baby; I won't cry . . .
I'm just glad that cows don't fly.

_____


WORD FOR TODAY

exiguous [EX-eh-juss]
Adjective
Very small in size or amount.
Synonyms   
scanty - small - little - meagre - meager - slender

_____


BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Andy Warhol

Born Aug. 6, 1928
Died Feb 22, 1987

Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States of America dedicated to a single artist.



Robert Mitchum


Born Aug 6, 1917
Died July 1, 1997

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time. Mitchum rose to prominence for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.



Lucille Ball


Born Aug. 6, 1911
Died Apr 26, 1989

Lucille Desiree Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy. One of the most popular and influential stars in the United States during her lifetime, with one of Hollywood's longest careers, especially on television, Ball began acting in the 1930s, becoming both a radio actress and B-movie star in the 1940s, and then a television star during the 1950s. She was still making films in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1962, Ball became the first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu, which produced many successful and popular television series.

_____

__________

Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.
--Isaac Asimov


No comments:

Post a Comment