The Weekly

* Drakus Domitius

The Weekly

Words, Quotes, Facts, or whatever other randomness comes to my attention.

March 15 , 2006

Ukase

Posted at 03:00 EST

Word of the Week:

Ukase

Pronunciation: /you-KAZE/

n : official decree; an arbitrary order

"The King suddenly issued an ukase that made his horse's birthday a national holiday."

Fact of the Week:
The standard escalator moves 120 feet per minute. (How lazy we all are!)

Quote of the Week:

"Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important."
- George (Pen name of Mary Ann Evans) Eliot (1888-1965)

Randomness:

C'est Moi, C'est Moi!

May 20 , 2004

Libidinous

Posted at 12:00 EST

Word of the Week:

Libidinous

Pronunciation: /li-BI-din-us/

adj : lustful

"Even in the libidinous atmosphere of the bachelor party, the groom was smart enough to keep his hands to himself."

Fact of the Week:
The kidney consists of over 1
million little tubes, and the total length of the tubes in both kidneys runs to about forty miles.

Quote of the Week:
Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day. ~ letters to a young poet

Randomness:
mmm...v-8

April 6 , 2004

Hirsute

Posted at 20:00 EST

Word of the Week:

Hirsute

Pronunciation: /HER-soot/

adj : hairy

"Mark crawled out of bed unkempt and hirsute, but later emerged from the bathroom clean shaven and well groomed."

Fact of the week:
Rats can swim for a 1/2 mile without resting, and they can tread water for 3
days straight.

This next one may be more of a rumor, but interesting, can anyone verify?:

Commodus had all of the dwarfs, cripples, and freaks collected in the city of Rome and had them brought to the Colosseum, where they were ordered to fight each other to the death with meat cleavers.

Quote of the week:
"To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are"
- Anon

Randomness
I JUST CAN"T STOP RAVING!!!!!

April 4 , 2004

Simper

Posted at 16:00 EST

Word of the Week:

Simper
Pronunciation: /SIM-per/

v : to smile foolishly

"Many members of AncientWorlds simper at their own infantile antics."

Fact of the Week:
Penicillin causes about 300 deaths in the United States every year.

Quote of the week
"If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it."
- Andy Rooney

Randomness:
Lyrics to "The Seven Deadly Virtues" from the musical Camelot:

The seven deadly virtues, those ghastly little traps
Oh no, my liege, they were not meant for me
Those seven deadly virtues were made for other chaps
Who love a life of failure and ennui
Take courage-now there's a sport
An invitation to the state of rigor mort
And purity-a noble yen
And very restful every now and then
I find humility means to be hurt
It's not the earth the meek inherit, it's the dirt
Honesty is fatal, it should be taboo
Diligence-a fate I would hate
If charity means giving, I give it to you
And fidelity is only for your mate
You'll never find a virtue unstatusing my quo or making my Beelzebubble
burst
Let others take the high road, I will take the low
I cannot wait to rush in where angels fear to go
With all those sevn deadly virtues free and happy little me has not been
cursed

March 23 , 2004

Banausic

Posted at 23:00 EST

Word of the week:

Banausic
Pronunciation: /ban-AW-sick/

adj : mechanical or routine

"She taught the class so many times, she was concerned that her delivery had become banausic."

Fact of the week:
groups of animals you might not have known: A group of unicorns is called a blessing. A group of kangaroos is called a mob. A group of owls is called a parliament. A group of ravens is an unkindness. A group of crows is a murder. A group of bears is called a sleuth. Twelve or more cows is called a drift.

Quote of the week:
"I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better."
- G. C. Lichtenberg

Randomness of the week:
Waffles! We need Waffles FORTHWITH!

March 17 , 2004

Ceilidh

Posted at 01:00 EST

In a bow to St. Patrick's Day:

Gaelic word of the week:
Ceilidh (noun), Pron: Kay-Lee

Def: "a visit". Orginally used when neighbors would visit each other in the evenings to tell stories, sing songs during long winter nights.

Irish trivia of the week:
The Harp is the official Emblem of Ireland, not the Shamrock. The handheld Harp was played by our Celtic Forefathers. It was Saint Patrick who made the Shamrock so popular.

Irish Quote of the week:
Imagination is a quality given a man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is.
-Oscar Wilde

Irish Blessing of the week:

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Just for fun, an Irish Curse:

May those who love us love us.
And those that don't love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we'll know them by their limping.

Randomness:
Chorus to when irish eyes are smiling:

When Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, 'tis like the morn in Spring.
In the lilt of Irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing.
When Irish hearts are happy,
All the world seems bright and gay.
And when Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, they steal your heart away.

March 9 , 2004

Conciliate

Posted at 23:00 EST

Word of the week

Conciliate

Pronunciation: /kun-SIL-ee-ate/
v: to gain someone's trust or goodwill; pacify

"You cannot conciliate me by bringing flowers."

Fact of the week:
Before going into the music business, Frank Zappa was a greeting-card designer

Quote of the week:
"The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward."
- Henry David Thoreau

Randomness
I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE....just listen to the rythm of my heart

March 2 , 2004

Pusillanimous

Posted at 17:00 EST

Word of the week:

Pusillanimous

Pronunciation: /pyoo-suh-LAN-i-mus/ adj : cowardly

"The pusillanimous behavior on the part of the passers-by who did nothing to help the young girl was reprehensible."

Fact of the week:
The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "And the rest of the day to yourself." (keep that in mind for St. Pat's day)

Quote of the week:
"Of all the words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these... it might have been."
- John Greenleaf Whittier

or

"As memory may be a paradise from which we cannot be driven, it may also be a hell from which we cannot escape."
- John Lancaster Spalding (1840 - 1916)

Randomness
Famous last words of Gary Jahnsen "Throw me the Shovel" - bad idea

Mordacious

Posted at 17:00 EST

A double dose, since this is the first week.

Word of the week:

Mordacious

Pronunciation: /mor-DA-shus/ adj : prone to biting

"Allison's mordacious cat, Gideon, left marks up and down her arm"

Quote of the week: "Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life." ~ Mark Twain

Fact of the week: The lungs of an average adult, unfolded and flattened out, would cover an area the size of a tennis court.

Randomness

Soundbit: Click here

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