Sunday, August 31, 2008

Spotlight: Today is the birthday of Danish silversmith Georg Jensen. Born in 1866, when he was 14 years old Jensen began work as an apprentice to a goldsmith. He worked with ceramicists and silversmiths until 1904 when he opened his own silversmith shop. He became renowned for his flatware and jewelry. In an effort to make products that were both serviceable and beautiful and that the average consumer could afford, Jensen was the first to profit from the production of silverware.

Quote: "Meanness inherits a set of silverware and keeps it in the bank. Economy uses it only on important occasions, for fear of loss. Thrift sets the table with it every night for pure pleasure, but counts the butter spreaders before they are put away." — Phyllis McGinley

Question of the Day: What is the difference between sterling silver, platinum and titanium?
Sterling silver, platinum and titanium are all metals of approximately the same color and brilliance. Silver is a base metal. You can mine for silver out of the earth. When talking about jewelery, silver (without any qualifiers) denotes that it has some silver in it. No guarantees can be made about how much silver is in the piece. <

Word of the day: andragogy

Andragogy is the process of engaging adult learners in the structure of the learning experience. The term was originally used by Alexander Kapp (a German educator) in 1833, was developed into a theory of adult education by the American educator, Malcolm Knowles, (April 24, 1913 — November 27, 1997).

Knowles held that andragogy (from the Greek words meaning "man-leading") should be distinguished from the more commonly used pedagogy (Greek: "child-leading").... (© Wikipedia)

Today's History:

Diana in 1996

• Malaya: became independent of the United Kingdom (1957); a few years later this federation of states became Malaysia
• Trinidad and Tobago: island nation of the southern Caribbean, birthplace of limbo, became independent of the United Kingdom (1962)
• Jack the Ripper: first victim was found with her throat cut in London's East End (1888)
• Princess Diana: was killed in a car crash along with her companion, Dodi Fayed, and her driver as they attempted to evade paparazzi (1997)

Today's Birthdays:

Itzhak Perlman

• Maria Montessori (1870-1952): educator, Montessori method
• William Saroyan (1908-1981): novelist/playwright, The Time of Your Life; other writers born on this date are Dore Schary (1905-1980), William Shawn (1907-1992), Daniel Schorr (92) and Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986)
• Frank Robinson (73): baseball hall-of-famer; NFL coach Tom Coughlin (62) also has a birthday today
• Itzhak Perlman (63): world-class violinist and promoter of disabled rights
• Richard Gere (59): actor, Pretty Woman, Chicago; also, actors Warren Berlinger (71), Deborah Gibson (38), Chris Tucker (36) and Sara Ramirez (33)
• Queen Rania (38): Jordan's queen, wife of Abdullah II