Today's Highlights:
Saturday, August 11, 2007
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Mall of America Source |
Spotlight: First there was the general store. Then the department store. In 1916, one of the US's first planned shopping areas was built in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, IL. Six years later, the Country Club Plaza was erected in Kansas City, MO; it was the world's first shopping center built to accommodate cars. Slowly, shopping centers began to pop up across the US. Inclement weather presented a need to enclose the areas, and malls proliferated. Fifteen years ago today, the Mall of America — America's largest mall to date — opened in Bloomington, MN.
Word of the day: perfect flowerA flower that has both male and female parts, as opposed to one that is unisexual or sterile.
Usage: According to this definition, the rose is a perfect flower in more ways than one, as is the lily, the apple flower and the tomato flower.
This week we're featuring words from our Dictionary for Gardeners, designed for amateurs and green thumbs alike. From the Garden of Eden to the stylized Japanese garden, gardens are a metaphor for life.
Today's News:
- pop-up ads: may be coming to your cell phone's idle screen (story)
- Hollywood Walk of Fame: 61 stars removed while shopping/housing complex is built (story)
- Brad Pitt: reports to jury duty in DUI case (story)
Today's History:
- Alcatraz: island prison in San Francisco Bay received its first civilian inmates (1934)
- Hussein ibn Talal: teen was proclaimed king of Jordan after his father was declared mentally unfit (1952)
- Watts riots: civil disturbances in Los Angeles left 34 dead (1965)
Today's Birthdays:
- Alex Haley (1921-1992): author of Roots
- Jerry Falwell (1933-2007): Moral Majority founder
- Steve Wozniak (57): cofounder of Apple Computers
- Carolyn Murphy (32): Sports Illustrated 2005 swimsuit issue cover girl
