DIANE'S CORNER ...
Celebrate Thesaurus Day

When you rise to meet the break of day, you can see the first light of the sun showing you the crack of dawn. The birds will make melody as they vocalize their chirps and cantillate their love of morning with the singsong serenade of chants, croons, and warbles. You can celebrate their exaltation of life with blessings as you laud the day ahead, and rejoice as you prepare for the party that exults a new date on the calendar. Thesaurus Day will help you broaden your horizons and your vocabulary, and take joy in the beauty of language!

History of Thesaurus Day

Thesaurus Day is your opportunity to reintroduce yourself to that best friend of writers, the thesaurus. Whether you’re looking for a new word to spice up your vocabulary, or looking for precisely the right nuance to add to a sentence or phrase, a Thesaurus can be there to help you. While many of us don’t use the great expanse of verbiage that’s available to us, the expanse of language really gives us an amazing ability to express ourselves with beauty and precision.

Poets have long used words in their melodious composition of phrases to evoke the most powerful images, knowing that “very happy” is all good and well, but “exultant” brings about an entirely different scene to mind. What makes an author truly expert is knowing how to blend together words and scenes to capture the mind and really bring across the personality of the characters in their stories. When all you can think of is a “brown” pond, it’s so much better to grab that Thesaurus and find that the word Bistre really captures the heart and meaning you’re looking for. Thesaurus day is when we can defenestrate our old vocabulary, and use the new space to help build up something a bit more elegant.

Word of the Day

hortative

MEANING:

adjective: Strongly urging.

USAGE:

“Nick Groom’s stated aim is hortative: in the face of climate change, local homogenisation, and galloping species loss, he wants culture to be ‘enlisted in the defense of the environment’.”
Melissa Harrison; Lore of the Land; Financial Times (London, UK); Dec 14, 2013.

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It is published by Condé Nast. Started as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is now published 47 times annually, with five of these issues covering two-week spans

Idiom of the Day

To Win by a Nose

To 'win by a nose' means to win by a very small amount.

Example: I ran the fastest race I could, but I only won by a nose.

Sally won the race, but she only won by a nose

Did you know...? This idiom comes from horseracing, where from about 1900 on it referred to a finish so close that only the tip of the horse's nose reached the finish ahead of the second horse.

There is a similar idiom with the same meaning - to 'win by a whisker'.

This Day in History

1778 - English navigator Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which he called the "Sandwich Islands."

1788 - The first English settlers arrived in Australia's Botany Bay to establish a penal colony. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson.

1886 - The Hockey Association was formed in England. This date is the birthday of modern field hockey.

1896 - The x-ray machine was exhibited for the first time.

1911 - For the first time an aircraft landed on a ship. Pilot Eugene B. Ely flew onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvanian San Francisco harbor.

1939 - Louis Armstrong and his orchestra recorded "Jeepers Creepers."

1943 - U.S. commercial bakers stopped selling sliced bread. Only whole loaves were sold during the ban until the end of World War II.

1958 - Willie O'Ree made his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins. He was the first black player to enter the league.

1965 - Barbra Streisand and Bobby Darin sang for Lyndon Johnson's presidential inauguration.

1973 - The Rolling Stones' benefit concert raised $200,000 for Nicaraguan earthquake relief. Mick Jagger donated $150,000 more.

1975 - "The Jeffersons" debuted on CBS-TV.

1978 - Neil Sedaka received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1985 - Mary Decker broke a world, indoor record when she ran the women’s, 2,000-meter race in 5:34.2. She also ran the outdoor mile in 4:16.7.

1987 - For the first time in history the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) was seen by over 100 million viewers. The audience was measured during the week of January 12-18.

1991 - Eastern Airlines shut down after 62 years in business due to financial problems.

1993 - The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 U.S. states for the first time.

1995 - The "yahoo.com" domain was created.

1995 - A network of caves were discovered near the town of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in southern France. The caves contained paintings and engravings that were 17,000 to 20,000 years old.

DAILY SQU-EEK

If You Were Born Today, January 18

While you are essentially conservative and of practical mind, you do have an emotional and impulsive streak. There is an inner restlessness in you that can sometimes be at the root of dramas in your life if you examine it closely. You prefer to be self-taught, finding much to enjoy in learning new things through your own studies. Poised, dynamic, and benevolent, you are an intriguing mix of intuition and practicality. Famous people born today:

1779 Peter Mark Roget, British lexicographer (Roget's Thesaurus) and inventor (slide rule, pocket chessboard), born in London (d. 1869)

1782 Daniel Webster, US Secretary of State (1841-43, 1850-52), politician and lawyer, born in Salisbury, New Hampshire (d. 1852)
1858 Daniel Williams, American heart surgeon who performed the 1st open heart surgery, born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania (d. 1931)
1882 A. A. Milne, English author of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, born in Hampstead Middlesex (d. 1956)
1892 Oliver Hardy, American comic actor (Laurel & Hardy), born in Harlem, Georgia (d. 1957)
1933 Ray Dolby, American sound expert and inventor (Dolby noise limiting system), born in Portland, Oregon (d. 2013)
1955 Kevin Costner, American actor (Fandango, Silverado, Bull Durham), born in Los Angeles, California
1961 Mark Messier, Canadian NHL Center (Edmonton, NY Rangers), born in Edmonton, Alberta

READERS INFO

1.1920 -

Prohibition went into effect in the United States on this day.

2.

2003 -

Space Shuttle Columbia was launched on this day. It was
destroyed during re-entry on February 1 and all seven astronauts on board were killed.

3.

North American International Auto Show 2019

Jan 14-27, 2019 | Detroit, MI

Cobo Center|1 Washington Blvd

The North American International Auto Show is an annual exhibition of the automobile debuts and concept cars. The festival consists of a press preview, industry preview, charity preview and a week-long show that is open to the public. Each year, various new motor vehicle models are introduced as well as amazing concept cars that show off new designs and technology. Many manufacturers unveil new models at the event, ranging from American brands like Ford and Chevrolet to international companies like Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz. The show also hosts the annual EyesOnDesign Awards during its two-week run, which honors and acknowledges commendable innovations in automobile design.

further information: January 14-27, 2019 - North American International Auto Show

4.

Wings Over Willcox Birding & Nature Festival 2019

Jan 17-20, 2019 | Willcox, AZ

Willcox Community Center and other locations in Wilcox|312 W Stewart St,

Birds all over American will soon skedaddle from their northern homes and fly South for the winter. Arizona residents will welcome their arrival in Cochise County, an outdoor-lover's paradise, and explore nature's newest additions. Jump in on a tour to see these magnificent creatures along with Southeastern Arizona's wildlife and its stunning natural surroundings. It's the kind of the adventure that won't return until the birds visit again next winter.

further information: http://www.wingsoverwillcox.com/

Pictures of the day

Thomas Linley the elder (17 January 1733 – 19 November 1795) was an English bass singer and musician. He began his musical career at age 11 in Bath, becoming apprentice to the organist Thomas Chilcot. Linley married in 1752 and fathered eight children, supporting the family by working as a music teacher. As his children grew he developed their musical talent and was able to draw an increasing amount of income from their concerts. When the Bath Assembly Rooms opened in 1771, Linley became musical director and continued to promote his children's careers. He was eventually able to move to London with the thousands of pounds which he had amassed from their concerts. In addition to his children Linley taught tenor Charles Dignum, singer and actress Anna Maria Crouch, and novelist Frances Sheridan. He collaborated with his son Thomas Linley the younger in penning the comic opera The Duenna, with librettoby his son-in-law Richard Brinsley Sheridan. This picture is an oil-on-canvaspainting created around 1770 by Thomas Gainsborough, showing Linley holding his "Elegies for Three Voices". It hangs in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.

This Bonsai Forest by Masahiko Kimura is Incredible