Jots & Tittles: 2-13-14

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I had just finished composing and laying out almost the entire blog entry for today, which had taken me a couple hours or so, when I suffered a fat-fingered incorrect keystroke that completely wiped out the entire file. And I could not retrieve it. So I had to do the whole thing over. Which means that I am only guessing whether or not I have reproduced it as it first appeared.

Whatever . . .

Oh Good Grief; I do not feel like getting back into the creative groove at this moment in a futile attempt to come up with a totally new, and interesting, commentary.

So I won't.

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Did You Know . . .?

The correct term for a group of baboons is a troop, not a congress as is sometimes incorrectly reported.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1633, Italian philosopher, astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome to face charges of heresy for advocating the Copernican theory, which holds that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Galileo officially faced the Roman Inquisition in April of that same year and agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. Put under house arrest indefinitely by Pope Urban VIII, Galileo spent the rest of his days at his villa in Arcetri, near Florence, before dying on January 8, 1642.

Today, Galileo is recognized for making important contributions to the study of motion and astronomy. His work influenced later scientists such as the English mathematician and physicist Sir Isaac Newton, who developed the law of universal gravitation.

It was not until 1992 that the Vatican formally acknowledged its mistake in condemning Galileo.

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WORD FOR TODAY

condemnation
noun
1. the expression of very strong disapproval; censure.
2. the action of condemning someone to a punishment; sentencing.

The actual condemnation of Galileo is a short but quite interesting item to read. It can be found at the link below:

Papal Condemnation of Galileo

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Peter Tork

(born February 13, 1942)

Peter Tork is an American musician and actor, best known as the keyboardist and bass guitarist of The Monkees.

Stockard Channing

(born February 13, 1944)

Stockard Channing is a three-time Emmy and one-time Tony Award winning American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its later film version.

Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager

(born February 13, 1923)

Chuck Yeager is a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot to (officially) travel faster than sound.

Kelly Ann Hu

(born February 13, 1968)

Kelly Hu is an American actress and former fashion model. She was Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993. Hu is best known for her role as Dr. Rae Chang on Sunset Beach (1997). She has since starred in numerous TV shows and films including Nash Bridges (1997–1998), The Scorpion King (2002), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), X-Men 2 as Yuriko Oyama/Lady Deathstrike (2003), Underclassman (2005), The Tournament (2009), The Vampire Diaries (2010–2011) and White Frog (2012). She currently stars as China White on the CW series Arrow (2012–present) and Abigail Cho on the SyFy Network series Warehouse 13 (2013–present)

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We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.
--Carl Jung

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