Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, November 5, 2019)Word of the Day | |||||||
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affiance
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Article of the Day | |
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The BunyipThe bunyip is a legendary monster said to inhabit swamps and lagoons of the Australian interior. Its name comes from a word meaning "evil-spirit" in Wemba-wemba, an Aboriginal language of southeast Australia. Descriptions of the bunyip vary widely. In most stories, it appears as a giant starfish-like creature, but it is also described in many accounts as having a dog-like face, dark fur, a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks. What phenomena could have given rise to the bunyip myth? More... |
This Day in History | |
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Susan B. Anthony Breaks US Law to Vote (1872)Anthony was an important figure in the 19th-century US women's suffrage movement. In 1869, Anthony, together with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, founded an association dedicated to securing voting rights for women. Three years later, she defied US law and voted in the presidential election, asserting that the 14th Amendment entitled her to do so. She was arrested and fined, but her actions drew considerable attention to the women's rights movement. Why was she expelled from the National Labor Union? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850)When her Poems of Passion was published in 1883, Wheeler gained notoriety for writing "immoral" poetry. Her subsequent works showed a marked change in content, focusing on temperance, religion, and sentimental, inspirational verse. Her best known poem is "Solitude," which earned her five dollars when it was published in an 1883 issue of the New York Sun. It famously opens, "Laugh and the world laughs with you / Weep and you weep alone." What inspired her to write these lines? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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A most paradoxical mixture of sound and silence pervades the shady parts of the wood. The noise from the insects is so loud...; yet within the recesses of the forest a universal silence appears to reign. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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fashionably late— Arriving after the arranged time to a meeting or event that does not require strict punctuality, especially so as to give the appearance of nonchalance or having been preoccupied by other social engagements. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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Día del Puno (2022)Each year a festival takes place in Puno, Peru, during the first week in November to mark the legendary birth of the first Inca ruler, Manco Capac, and his wife, Mama Ocllo. On November 5, the date associated with their birth, a parade of reed boats, called balsas, accompanies an elaborately decorated boat that takes a couple playing the roles of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo to an island in the lake. There, the birth is dramatically reenacted. Festivities include performances by traditional dance and musical groups, sporting events, exhibits, and a crafts fair. More... |