| Monday, June 15, 2009 |
|
|
| Signing the Magna Carta |
SpotlightThe Magna Carta was a historic agreement made between King John of England and his barons, who had been rebelling against his capricious and oppressive rules. When the barons defeated John in London, in May 1215, he realized he needed to negotiate with them to regain control. The next month, on June 15, he signed the Magna Carta at Runnymede as a stalling action. The document guaranteed the rights of the church and dealt with finances and a tightening of the king's ability to exploit loopholes in feudal customs. Only the last clause dealt with the people's rights under common law. This clause, which became the foundation of English constitutional liberty, is what remains in the statute books today.
Question of the DayWhere is the Magna Carta?
There are four copies believed to date back to 1215, the year that it was sealed by King John.
● A damaged and almost illegible copy was found in Dover Castle and is now owned by the British Library.
● A copy is owned by Lincoln Cathedral and is on display in Lincoln Castle.
● A copy is owned by Salisbury Cathedral.
● A copy is on display in the Houses of Parliament. It is not certain that this is the 1215 version.
It is not known whether there was ever a "master copy."
Word of the daypluto
The American Dialect Society defined the verb "to pluto" as "to demote or devalue someone or something, as happened to the former planet Pluto when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto no longer met its definition of a planet." The society selected "plutoed" as its 2006 Word of the Year....
Last week, on June 10, English was supposed to have passed the one-million-word mark, according to this story by the Global Language Monitor. The word neologism, or "new word," was coined at the start of the 19th century, making it a neologism at the time. This week let's take a look at some newer neologisms.
Today's History
|
|
| Charles Goodyear |
- Charles Goodyear: received a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber (1844)
- Arlington National Cemetery: military burial ground was established by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (1864)
- Dan Quayle: famous "
potatoe " misspelling incident occurred (1992) - 2002 MN: asteroid had a near miss as it flew by Earth (2002)
Today's Birthdays
|
|
|
Wade Boggs' Hall of Fame Plaque |
- Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376): heir apparent to the English throne; he always wore black armor
- Erik Erikson (1902-1994): psychoanalyst who coined the phrase "identity crisis"
- Waylon Jennings (1937-2002): country music singer; also, musicians Franz Danzi (1763-1826), Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), Terri Gibbs (55) and Dryden Mitchell (33) share this birth date
- Jim Belushi (55): actor, According to Jim; also, actors Julie Hagerty (54), Eileen Davidson (50), Helen Hunt (46), Courtney Cox Arquette (45), Ice Cube (40), Leah Remini (39) and Neil Patrick Harris (36)
- Wade Boggs (51): baseball hall-of-famer; plus, sports stars Billy Williams (71), Mike Holmgren (61) and Andy Pettitte (37)
