WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Actor Larry Manetti is 63.

>>> SOUTH SOUND SPECIFIC

Fort Nisqually was the first European settlement on Puget Sound. The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) of London, a vast fur trading enterprise chartered by King Charles of England in 1670, established it in 1833. The original site was on the beach and plains above the Nisqually River delta in the present town of DuPont, Washington. Today Fort Nisqually, including two of the original buildings, is located inside Tacoma's Point Defiance Park. Fort Nisqually is owned and operated as a Living History Museum by Metro Parks of Tacoma, which hosts a 19^th Century Fun Night tonight. (Thanks Metro Parks)

>>> WORD OF THE DAY

velutinous [ve-'loot-en-us] adjective [From New Latin veluthnus, from Medieval Latin velutum, velvet, from Vulgar Latin villutus.]

Covered with dense, soft, silky hairs; velvety, velvetlike

Usage example: Legislative candidate Doug Richards wiped his brow with his velutinous forearm, distraught over his past mistakes, but continued to pray to the velutinous beast of wisdom and caring.

>>> DID YOU READ THIS?

TIME MAGAZINBE REPORTS: "On the evening of July 21, the president of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, convened a ceremony at the Casa Rosada government house in downtown Buenos Aires to formally sign into law a bill legalizing gay marriage. The measure, narrowly passed by the Argentine Congress on July 15, was no small leap for the land of the laconic gaucho cowboy, a place whose Constitution required the head of the Argentine state to be Catholic until a 1994 reform."

The news sent protests through neighboring Uruguay, well, mostly among exceptionally uptight fear-drunk Uruguayans who have desperately warped and straightjackeded ideas of what love truly means and who can't sleep at night without at least four Valium and a dozen deep sniffs of rubber cement and the soothing voice of Dr. Maria - the Dr. Laura of Uruguay - on looped tape.

>>> NEWS TO US

The Senate passed a $60 billion bill to fund President Obama's Afghanistan troop surge.

Everything is going to be OK! Apple unveiled a free case for iPhone 4s today.

Some haters crashed the Comic-con. Dude, that's lame.

Morning Spew posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on this blog. Sometimes, it even posts in the morning.

Meet Christophe of Hilltopia. He just joined our Community. Neat.