Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, November 18, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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dumbstruck
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| Article of the Day | |
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 The Persian Royal RoadThe Persian Royal Road was an ancient highway built by King Darius I in the 5th Century BCE to facilitate communication throughout his empire. The route, reconstructed using archeological research and historical records, passed through present day Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. The Greek historian Herodotus' praise for the speed of the Persian couriers, who were said to be able to travel the road's 1,677 miles (2,699 kilometers) in seven days, is popularly associated with what US public service? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Pope Boniface VIII Issues Unam Sanctam (1302)Historians consider the papal bull Unam sanctam—which proclaimed that there is no salvation outside of the Church—to be one of the most extreme statements of papal spiritual supremacy ever made. It stemmed from Pope Boniface VIII's ongoing feud with Philip the Fair of France over Philip's taxation of clerics without papal consent. Unam sanctam thus emphasized that Catholic princes are subject to the pope in temporal and religious matters. How did Philip respond to the bull? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jacques Maritain (1882)Maritain was a French philosopher. His thought is based on Aristotelianism and Thomism—the philosophical and theological system developed by St. Thomas Aquinas—but incorporates concepts from other classical and modern philosophers and draws upon anthropology, sociology, and psychology. Raised Protestant, Maritain became Roman Catholic in his 20s and later served as French ambassador to the Vatican and forged a friendship with Pope Paul VI. With whom did Maritain once make a suicide pact and why? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.Henry James (1843-1916) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get (one's) (own) way— To get or have what one wants; to have things done according to one's personal preference or desires. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Haiti Battle of Vertières' Day (2022)This official public holiday memorializes the last battle for Haitian independence on November 18, 1803, in which Haitian rebels defeated the French colonialists. The victory at Vertières, near the present-day port city of Cap-Haïtien, signified the end of a long freedom struggle that stretched out over two major phases. Less than two months after the battle, Haiti became the first black independent republic. More... | |