Month: March 2022

recipe

German chocolate – Refers to Baker’s German Sweet Chocolate, German being an employee of Baker who developed the sweet chocolate in the recipe. More…

receipt – Its first meaning was “a drug made according to a recipe” or a “recipe” for making food. More…

recipe – As a verb, it was once used at the beginning of medical prescriptions and it first (in Latin) meant “take”—we are familiar with its use by physicians in the abbreviation R or Rx. More…

tollhouse cookie – Named after the Toll House in Whitman, Massachusetts, the source of the recipe. More…

NASA Launches Gemini 3 (1965)

Gemini 3 was the first manned launch of the Gemini program, whose objective was to develop techniques for orbital rendezvous and docking—procedures later used in the Apollo moon-landing missions. Gemini 3‘s primary goal was to test the new, maneuverable Gemini spacecraft. In space, the crew fired thrusters to change the shape of their orbit, shift their orbital plane slightly, and drop to a lower altitude. What dangerous contraband did one astronaut sneak on board the spacecraft? Discuss

Schuyler Colfax (1823)

Colfax was the 17th vice president of the US, serving under Ulysses S. Grant. A prominent newspaperman, he helped organize Indiana’s Republican party and was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1850s. He retained his congressional seat until 1869, when he moved on to the office of vice president. With a combined age of 91, Grant and Colfax were the youngest team to enter the White House until Bill Clinton and Al Gore over a century later. What scandal ended Colfax’s political career? Discuss

Joseph Priestley

Priestley was an English theologian and scientist. He prepared for the Presbyterian ministry but gradually rejected orthodox Calvinism for Unitarianism. His History of the Corruptions of Christianity, published in 1782, was officially burned in 1785, and he immigrated to the US in 1794, befriending the nation’s founders. As a scientist, his manipulation of gases enabled him to discover new ones, including “dephlogisticated air,” a breakthrough whose magnitude escaped him. What gas was it? Discuss

spoil

bilk – A term originally used in cribbage, meaning “spoil one’s opponent’s score.” More…

corrupt – Comes from Latin corrumpere, “destroy completely,” and first meant “to destroy or spoil the flesh, fruit, or organic matter by dissolution or decomposition.” More…

infect – From Latin inficere, “put in” or “dip in,” which came to mean “stain, taint, spoil.” More…

vitiate – “To make imperfect; spoil.” More…

Hale-Bopp Comet Makes Closest Approach to Earth (1997)

Likely the most widely observed comet of the 20th century, Hale-Bopp—named for American astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp—was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, observable even from large cities with light-polluted skies. The comet’s passage excited stargazers but also incited various conspiracy theories. The notion that it was followed by an alien spacecraft inspired a mass suicide among members of the Heaven’s Gate cult. When will Hale-Bopp return to the inner solar system? Discuss

William Shatner (1931)

Shatner is a Canadian-born actor, writer, and musical performer. He became a cult icon starring as Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise on the 1960s television show Star Trek. He reprised the role in movies and has written about his experiences playing Kirk. Shatner’s more recent work on The Practice and its spinoff Boston Legal earned him a pair of Emmy Awards. In 2006, he made headlines for selling his kidney stone to whom, for how much, and for what purpose? Discuss