Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, January 20, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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wizened
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| Article of the Day | |
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.jpg) El CidRodrigo Díaz de Vivar—popularly known as "El Cid"—was an 11th-century Castilian military leader and national hero. His unauthorized raid on the kingdom of Toledo in 1081 prompted his exile by Spanish king Alfonso VI. El Cid then entered the service of the Muslim rulers of Zaragoza, becoming known as a general who was never defeated in battle. Revered as a hero, his exploits were celebrated in a 12th-century epic poem. According to legend, what did El Cid's wife do with his dead body? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Iran Releases 52 American Hostages (1981)The overthrow of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi of Iran by an Islamic revolutionary government in February 1979 led to a steady deterioration in Iranian-American relations. In September of that year, the exiled shah was allowed into the US for medical treatment, prompting Iranian students called the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line to seize the US embassy in Tehran and take 66 Americans hostage. After 444 days, the last 52 hostages were released. What was the "Canadian Caper"? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (1873)In 1944, Danish novelist, poet, and essayist Johannes Vilhelm Jensen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He penned more than 60 volumes, including essays, travel books, and lyrical poems, and his interest in biology and anthropology—he had studied medicine before pursuing writing—is evident throughout. His best-known work is The Long Journey, a six-novel fantasy based on Darwinian theory that traces the story of humans from primitive times to the age of whom? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I've never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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case of the dropsy— A fictitious "condition" characterized by continually dropping things from one's hands. It is a play on the term "dropsy," which was formerly used to denote the condition now known as edema (or oedema). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Agnes's Eve (2023)The eve of St. Agnes's Day has long been associated with superstitions about how young girls might discover the identity of their future husbands. According to one such belief, a girl who went to bed without any supper on this night would dream of the man she was to marry. John Keats used this legend as the basis for his well-known poem, "The Eve of St. Agnes," in which a maiden dreams of her lover and wakes to find him at her bedside. St. Agnes was martyred because she had consecrated herself to Christ and refused to marry. She was later named the patron saint of young virgins. More... | |