Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, December 18, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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chicanery
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| Article of the Day | |
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 The AmbulocetusThough similar to crocodiles in appearance and behavior, Ambulocetus was actually an early cetacean—a member of the mammalian order that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. However, unlike today's cetaceans, Ambulocetus had legs and so could walk as well as swim. These and other key adaptations of the "walking whale" have helped scientists piece together the way in which whales evolved from land mammals. Ambulocetus lived 50 million years ago in what part of the world? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Nutcracker Premieres (1892)Now a beloved Christmastime classic, The Nutcracker ballet premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, to fairly negative reviews. Even Tchaikovsky himself, the composer responsible for the score, found the ballet lacking. Despite its initial failure, the ballet about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and battles the evil Mouse King has since become a holiday favorite. What helped turn things around for The Nutcracker? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Steven Spielberg (1946)Spielberg is a three-time Academy Award-winning director and one of the most commercially successful filmmakers in the history of US cinema. He began his career directing for television, but his major success came when he began directing movies. His 1975 film, Jaws, became one of the highest-grossing movies ever and made him a household name. Spielberg later surpassed this record with the films E.T. and Jurassic Park. What 1993 movie earned him his first Academy Award? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions ... I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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fine print— The details of a contract or other document that are important but easily overlooked (often due to very small size of the text.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Fiesta of Our Lady of Solitude (2022)The Virgen de la Soledad, or Our Lady of Solitude, is the patroness of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Preparations for her fiesta begin several days before December 18, when carnival rides and food booths are set up in the vicinity of the church. For several evenings there are calendas, processions of men and women carrying colored paper lanterns illuminated by candles. There are also floats and huge papier-mâché caricatures of well-known individuals. Thousands of pilgrims come from all over the state of Oaxaca to see the Virgin, who is dressed in velvet and satin gowns. More... | |