Answer of the Day
How much tea got dumped in the Boston Tea Party? On this date in 1773, Bostonians emptied the holds of three tea-bearing British ships into Boston Harbor to protest the British tax on tea imported to the colonies. A group of men led by Samuel Adams disguised themselves as Native Americans and dumped some 18,000 pounds of tea into the water. As punishment, Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts, which, among other things, effectively closed the Massachusetts port until restitution for the spoiled tea would be made. This served to further unite the colonies in their opposition to the British. The Boston Tea Party was one of a series of events that led to the American Revolution.

Quote
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Samuel Adams

Word of the day
tercel
(TUR-sel)

noun
The male of a hawk, especially of the peregrine falcon or a goshawk.

Etymology
From Middle English, from Middle French tercuel, from Vulgar Latin tertiolus, diminutive of Latin tertius (third). Ultimately from Indo-European root trei- (three) that's also the source of such words as three, testify (to be the third person), triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13)

Why the sense of third in the word for a male hawk? It's either from the belief that the third egg produced a male, or from the fact that the male of hawk is one-third smaller than the female. Spelling variants: tiercel, tercelet.

Usage
"Adam was a 2-year-old tercel Hubbard had been working with for more than a year. The bird was acquired from a federally licensed breeder for $1,000." — Rich Landers; Falconer Puzzled by Loss of Bird; Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington); Jan 10, 1999.

"On this occasion the tercel flew off after a pigeon, and though the bird was fitted with a tracking device, it disappeared." — William Shaw; Bird on a Wire; The Observer (London, UK); Apr 13, 2003.
(© Wordsmith.org)

Today's History

Le Viaduc de Millau

• Oliver Cromwell: was sworn in as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland; he reigned for five years, till his death (1653)
• Battle of the Bulge: German attack began in the Ardennes region of southern Belgium in WWII (1944)
• Millau Viaduct: the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, located in southern France, was opened to traffic (2004)

Today's Birthdays

Liv Ullman

• Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536): first of Henry VIII's six wives
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): composer of nine symphonies and the "Moonlight" Sonata; plus, composers François Boieldieu (1775-1834) and Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
• Jane Austen (1775-1817): author, Pride and Prejudice; also, writers George Santayana (1863-1952), Noel Coward (1899-1973), V.S. Pritchett (1900-1997), Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) and Philip K. Dick (1928-1982)
• Margaret Mead (1901-1978): culture anthropologist
• Liv Ullmann (71): actor, best known for her roles in Ingmar Bergman films; also, actors Ben Cross (62), Alison LaPlaca (50), Jon Tenney (48), Sam Robards (47), Benjamin Bratt (46) and Hallee Hirsh (22)
• Steven Bochco (66): TV producer, Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue