Wednesday, January 9, 2008

 

Spotlight: At the age of 21, Simone de Beauvoir was the youngest student ever to pass the agrégation in philosophy at the École Normale, thereby becoming the youngest philosophy teacher in France. De Beauvoir, who was born 100 years ago today, set many of the guiding principles of the feminist movement. She and existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre maintained a lifetime partnership, both romantic and intellectual, though they never married or lived together.

Quote: "Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay." — Simone de Beauvoir

Word of the day: biofeedback (beye-oh-feed-bak)

A training technique by which a person learns how to regulate certain body functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, or brain wave patterns, that are normally considered to be involuntary. The person learns by watching special monitoring instruments attached to the body that record changes in these functions.

Biofeedback has had some success in the treatment of such disorders as chronic headaches and back pain.

(© Houghton Mifflin Company)

Today's History:

• Connecticut: home of the Fundamental Orders, an early constitution, became the 5th US state (1788)
• daguerreotype: L. J. M. Daguerre announced the first practical photographic process to the French Academy of Arts and Science (1839)
• autogiro: aeronautical engineer Juan de la Cierva made the first successful flight in the helicopter-like aircraft he had invented (1923)

Today's Birthdays:

• Joseph Strauss (1870-1938): structural engineer who designed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge
• Richard Nixon (1913-1994): 37th POTUS, who said, "I am not a crook," but still was forced to resign because of the Watergate scandal
• Bob Denver (1935-2005): actor who went from being the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs to spending years trying to get off Gilligan's Island
• Joan Baez (67): folk rock singer; other singers born today include Crystal Gayle (57), Steve Harwell (41), A.J. Mclean (30)
• Jimmy Page (64): lead guitarist, Led Zeppelin; other guitarists born today: Eric Erlandson (45), Dave Matthews (41), Carl Bell (41)