Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, December 11, 2018)Word of the Day | |||||||
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oscillate
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Article of the Day | |
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Bomb DisposalBomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe in both military and civilian scenarios. It became a formalized practice during WWI, when the mass production of munitions led to a large proportion of "duds" being manufactured and fired. These unexploded ordnance were extremely hazardous, so units dedicated to their disposal were created. Today, bomb disposal technicians use remote-controlled robots to neutralize bombs from a distance. What is a "pigstick"? More... |
This Day in History | |
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United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Established (1946)The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)—now the United Nations Children's Fund—was founded in 1946 for the purpose of providing relief to children in countries devastated by World War II. After 1950, it turned to general children's welfare programs, winning the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1965. Today, it focuses on areas in which relatively small expenditures can have a significant impact. How did its famous "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" fundraising campaign begin? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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Max Born (1882)A prominent German physicist, Born taught theoretical physics at the University of Göttingen from 1921 to 1933, until Nazi policies forced him—a person of Jewish descent—to flee to England, where he continued to teach at the university level. He made contributions to various branches of physics, including solid-state physics and optics, but his most important work was that related to quantum mechanics—work that earned him a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954. Born was one of 11 signatories to what? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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"My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober." Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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not as black as (one) is painted— Not as evil, malicious, or malignant as one is described or believed to be. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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Christkindlesmarkt (2022)Christkindlesmarkt is the biggest and best known of the Christmas markets of Germany. The market in Bavaria, Germany, has been held since 1697 in the city's Hauptmarkt ("main market"); more than 100 booths are set up to offer only goods directly related to Christmas, and food booths sell Nuremberg's specialties—Lebkuchen, or gingerbread, and Zwetschgenmannlein, which are little people-shaped confections. The three-week festival is inaugurated with choral singing, the pealing of church bells, and illumination of a creche. More... |