#2080~The Model T Ford was nicknamed the Tin Lizzie.

#2081~The second-largest planet in the solar system is Saturn.

#2082~Dodgers and Cubs first baseman Chuck Connors dropped baseball to take up acting.

#2083~The skin is by far the largest organ in the body.

2084

lunchtime for me

#2085

Curiously enough, Tim Berners-Lee, who started www at CERN, is in the news today:

http://www.wired.com/news/technolog...2,58942,00.html

Note that they fluffed the date he started it. They give 1980, and it was 1990. NeXT didn't exist until 1985 :)

#2086

#2088

#2089

#2090

Come on lets keep it moving!

#2091~The hardest substance in the human body is enamel.

#2093~The African capital city Monrovia is named for U.S. President James Monroe.

#2094~The best time of day to buy a pair of shoes is late afternoon.

#2095~The left leg of a chicken is more tender.

#2096

#2097~~~~~bought 4 pairs yesterday afternoon! And that is so true, because you have been on your feet all day and they are more spread out...so if they are comfortable then, then they should be great all the time!

#2098~Let's hear it for huntersgirl's new shoes! :cool:

#2099~Courtesy of MSN Learning and Research, the following are ten words you simply *must* know:

1. Defenestrate: "throw somebody or something out of window: to throw something or somebody out of a window (formal or humorous)"

It is quite entertaining to defenestrate paper airplanes

#2100~

2. Garbology: "study of waste materials: the study of a cultural group by an examination of what it discards"

Garbology might be a good career choice for dumpster divers. Recycling may make the job of future garbologists extremely difficult--they'll have less to study.

#2101~

3. Digerati: "computer experts: people who have or claim to have a sophisticated expertise in the area of computers, the Internet, and the World Wide Web"

Not too long ago, computer expertise was considered nerdy. These days, many people strive to be among the digerati.

#2102~

4. Antipodes:
a. "places at opposite sides of world: places at opposite sides of the world from each other, or the areas at the side of the world opposite from a given place"
b. "opposites: two points, places, or things that are diametrically opposite each other"

One could say that Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli and Warren "Potsie" Weber are antipodes.

#2103~

5. Hallux: "first digit on the foot: the big toe on the human foot, or the first digit on the hind foot of some mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians (technical)"

The ballerina had her hallux insured for $10 million!

#2104~

6. Otiose:
1. "not effective: with no useful result or practical purpose"
2. "worthless: with little or no value"
3. "lazy: unwilling or uninterested in working or being active (archaic)"

Will e-mail render traditional letter writing otiose? Let's hope not.

#2105~

7. Cullet: "glass to be recycled: broken or waste glass returned for recycling"

Don't forget to take the cullet out to the curbside, and be sure to put it next to the trash, not in it.

#2106~

8. Pellucid:
a. "clear in meaning: easy to understand or clear in meaning (formal)"
b. "transparent: allowing all or most light to pass through (literary)"

The police officer's warning was pellucid: drivers must go the speed limit in the school zone.

#2107~

9. Borborygmus: "stomach rumble: the rumbling sounds made by the movement of gases in the stomach and intestine (technical)"

If you lay your head on someone's stomach, you are likely to hear borborygmus

#2108~

10. Embrangle: "perplex somebody: to confuse, perplex, or entangle somebody or something (archaic)"

As Lord Needlebottom attempted to explain the rules of cricket, his American friends became more and more embrangled.

Microsoft R&D: Apple Computer, Inc.

#2109

According to the book Forgotten English, by Jeffrey Kacirk, a Treadmill was originally a punishment device. Prisoners would have to walk on constantly moving mill wheels. Sometimes the movement thus generated would be used in the actual milling or grinding of grains, like corn.

#2110

Here's another one from Forgotten English and one I think Lilith will like:

A ferule is a flat-edged wooden switch or stick, used by fifteenth- and sixteenth-century schoolteachers to physically discipline students.

#2111

From the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language comes THIS origin of the world Golf (which I hope will put that 'gentlemen only' crap to rest):



#2112

Ah true, but what about the other 49?
Here we go (I'll start with Iowa, and then go alphabetically, just for IAKG).

Iowa is derived from a Dakota word for "the sleepy one."

(oh all explanations are sourced from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language)

#2113

Alabama comes from a Choctaw word for "I open the thicket" (i.e. clear the land).

#2114

#2115

Alaska comes from an Inuit word for 'great land'

#2116

Arizona comes from a Papago word for 'place of the small spring'

#2117

Arkansas (the only state, to my knowledge, with a law on the books for the pronunciation of the states name ('are-CAN-saw')) and Kansas are both derived from a Sioux term for "land of the south wind people"

#2118

California comes from a Spanish term for "Earthly paradise"

(that was before all the smog in LA I would imagine ;) )

#2119

Colorado is derived from the Spanish word for red (color of the earth).