Thursday, November 18, 2004

Spotlight
Personality of the Day: Gilbert and Sullivan were masters of the operetta, the precursor to modern-day musicals. Sir William Gilbert, the duo's librettist, was born on this date in 1836.

Quote
"Man is nature's sole mistake." -- Sir William Gilbert, in his operetta Princess Ida (1884)

Word of the day
Clovis -- (adj.) related to a prehistoric people in North America who made fluted artifacts from chalcedony and obsidian; named after Clovis, New Mexico. Appeared in an article about archeological findings that may rewrite the history of human settlement by placing humans in North America 50,000 years ago. (story) (© )

Today's News

• Mount Everest -- melting glaciers threaten world's highest peak (story)
• Plagues of Egypt -- swarms of locusts blacken skies of Cairo (story)
• an apple a day -- quercetin in apples may keep Alzheimer's away (story)

Today's History

• Palmer Land -- Captain Nathaniel Palmer discovered Antarctica (1820)
• standard time -- adopted by U.S. and Canada to facilitate railroad timetables (1883)
• Jim Jones -- urged more than 900 followers to kill themselves by drinking cyanide-laced punch; those who refused were shot to death (1978)

Today's Birthdays

• George Gallup -- American statistician and pioneer of the public opinion poll (1901-1984)
• Alan Shepard -- first American in space (1923-1998)
• Margaret Atwood -- author of The Handmaid's Tale turns 65