Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, December 5, 2018)Word of the Day | |||||||
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ascendancy
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Article of the Day | |
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Energy WeaponsDirected-energy weapons are those that transfer energy to a target without the use of a projectile. Types of energy used or proposed for such weapons include sound, radio, light, particles, and plasma—all of which could be used for a number of different applications, including destroying targets, causing disorientation, or disabling machinery. Although many so-called energy weapons are the stuff of science fiction, some are in development or even in limited use. What are some examples? More... |
This Day in History | |
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Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin Debuts in US (1926)Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, based on the real-life 1905 uprising aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin, is a seminal film in cinematic history. Eisenstein deliberately wrote the silent film as a revolutionary propaganda piece and used it to test his theories of "montage," a form of movie collage consisting of a series of short shots edited into a sequence intended to effect emotional or intellectual responses. What is the film's most famous montage sequence? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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Christina Rossetti (1830)Christina Rossetti was one of England's most important female poets of the Victorian era. It is little wonder that she became a poet, given her lineage. Her great-grandfather was a poet, her grandfather was a writer and scholar, and her father was the famous poet and scholar Gabriele Rossetti. Her three siblings followed similar paths. Religious themes dominate her poems, which run the gamut from romantic to devotional to children's poetry. What popular Christmas carol did she pen? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing. Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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it is what it is— The situation, circumstance, or outcome has already happened or been decided or established, so it must be accepted even if it is undesirable. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas's Eve) (2022)Very little is known about St. Nicholas's life, except that in the fourth century he was the bishop of Myra in what is now Turkey. On the eve of December 6 in the Netherlands, St. Nicholas, or Sinterklaas, rides into town on a white horse, dressed in his red bishop's robes and preceded by "Black Peter," a figure in Moorish costume who rewards the good children with candy and gifts. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, and churches dedicated to him are often built so they can be seen off the coast as landmarks. More... |