Ostentation Is A Flowery Word

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

"Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood."
--William Penn

_____

Did You Know . . .?

When a person has delusions that a stranger or a famous person is deeply in love with him/her, it's called erotomania.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1939 (when I was two months old), from his home on Long Island, New York, German-born physicist Albert Einstein wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging "watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action" on the part of the United States in atomic research. Einstein, a lifelong pacifist, feared that Nazi Germany had begun work on an atomic bomb. But after the war, Einstein deplored the use of the deadly weapon against the population centers of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and he urged international control of atomic weapons.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

rococo {ruh-KO-ko}
noun
1. a style of architecture and decoration, originating in France about 1720, evolved from Baroque types and distinguished by its elegant refinement in using different materials for a delicate overall effect and by its ornament of shell work, foliage, etc.
2. a homophonic musical style of the middle 18th century, marked by a generally superficial elegance and charm and by the use of elaborate ornamentation and stereotyped devices.
adjective
3. ( initial capital letter ) Fine Arts.
a. noting or pertaining to a style of painting developed simultaneously with the rococo in architecture and decoration, characterized chiefly by smallness of scale, delicacy of color, freedom of brushwork, and the selection of playful subjects as thematic material.
b. designating a corresponding style of sculpture, chiefly characterized by diminutiveness of Baroque forms and playfulness of theme.
4. of, pertaining to, in the manner of, or suggested by rococo architecture, decoration, or music or the general atmosphere and spirit of the rococo: rococo charm.
5. ornate or florid in speech, literary style, etc.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Peter James O'Toole

(2 Aug 1932 - 14 Dec 2013)

Peter O'Toole was an Irish stage and film actor. He achieved international recognition playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, The Lion in Winter, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year, and Venus. He holds the record for the most Academy Award acting nominations without a win.

Mary-Louise Parker

(born August 2, 1964)

Mary-Louise Parker is an American actress best known for her lead role on Showtime's television series Weeds. Parker has appeared in films and series such as RED, RED 2, Fried Green Tomatoes, Boys on the Side, The West Wing, and Angels in America.

Carroll O'Connor

(Aug 2, 1924 - June 21, 2001)

Carroll O'Connor was an American actor whose television career spanned four decades. O'Connor first attracted attention as Major General Colt in the 1970 movie Kelly's Heroes. The following year he found fame as Archie Bunker in the sitcoms All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place. O'Connor later starred in the NBC/CBS television crime drama In the Heat of the Night from 1988 to 1995. At the end of his career in the late 1990s, he played the father of Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt) on Mad About You.

Alice Jane Evans

(born 2 August 1971)

Alice Evans is a British actress cast alongside Glenn Close in 101 Dalmatians and with James Cromwell and Vince Vaughn in Blackball. She has since appeared in both television and film, including The Mentalist and Brothers and Sisters, as well as LOST, Grimm, and a turn as the villain Esther on The Vampire Diaries.

__________

As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue.
--Albert Einstein

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

Twerking In A Nuclear World

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

180 pounds

I have heard it said time and again (and again just last night) that unrestrained nuclear war would result in the destruction of the Earth. But after thinking about that for a time I realized that this statement is incorrect. In my opinion, the Earth itself would not be destroyed even by detonation of all existing nuclear weapons. While it's true that biological life could probably be eradicated, be completely wiped off the Earth by nuclear explosions and their after-effects, the physical Earth, the actual planet, (its deadliest and most rapacious enemy having been eliminated) would most likely remain.

And I am not so sure that such a result would necessarily be a bad thing, especially from the point of view of the rest of the inhabitants (if any exist) throughout the universe.

Do I really mean that?

Well . . . I am, of course, a self-admitted curmudgeon.

What do you think?

_____

Did You Know . . .?

Nikola Tesla and Mark Twain were best friends and mutual fanboys.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

At 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979, the worst accident in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry began when a pressure valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island fails to close. Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings, and the core began to dangerously overheat. By early morning, the core had heated to over 4,000 degrees, just 1,000 degrees short of meltdown. In the meltdown scenario, the core melts, and deadly radiation drifts across the countryside, fatally sickening a potentially great number of people. At the height of the crisis, plant workers were exposed to unhealthy levels of radiation.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

nuclear
adjective
1.  pertaining to or involving atomic weapons: nuclear war.
2.  operated or powered by atomic energy: a nuclear submarine.
3.  (of a nation or group of nations) having atomic weapons.

The word is pronounced NOO-kleer, and even though many people (including former president George W. Bush) pronounce it noo-kyoo-luhr, this pronunciation is incorrect.

Do you like to laugh? Below is the link to a 27 second Youtube video that makes most people at least  chuckle.

Nuclear or nukyouuluhr

Does it matter how a word is pronounce as long as the audience knows what you mean by the word?

Probably not.


By the way, the Oxford English Dictionary has added a new word:

twerk

Definition of twerk: Dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.

Miley Cyrus Popularizing Twerk

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn

(born March 28, 1970)

Vince Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer, comedian and activist. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers. He has since appeared in a number of films, including Rudy, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Return to Paradise, Old School, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Wedding Crashers, The Break Up, Fred Claus, Couples Retreat, The Watch and The Internship. 

Conchata Galen Ferrell

(born March 28, 1943)

Conchata Ferrell is an American actress. She is best known for playing Berta the housekeeper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations in 2005 and 2007.

Gareth David-Lloyd

(born 28 March 1981)

Gareth David-Lloyd is a Welsh actor best known for his role as Ianto Jones in the British science fiction television programme Torchwood.

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta

(born March 28, 1986)

Lady Gaga is an American recording artist, activist, and actress. Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse contributions to the music industry. As of November 2013, she had sold an estimated 24 million albums and 125 million singles worldwide and her singles are some of the best-selling worldwide. She was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine. Outside of her musical career, she is a prominent LGBT activist.

__________

Re: nuclear:
Besides Bush, at least three other presidents -- Eisenhower, Carter, and Clinton -- have mangled the word.
--William Safire

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am