Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, November 11, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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otiose
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Liquid CrystalsLiquid crystals are substances that flow like liquids but are composed of highly organized molecules similar to those in solid crystals. Their unusual and often manipulable optical properties have given rise to their widespread use in technology, such as in liquid crystal displays, or LCDs. Some liquid crystals change color depending on temperature or stress. Many common substances—such as cholesterol and solutions of soap—are liquid crystals. What virus exists in a liquid crystal state? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Kaprun Disaster Leaves 155 Dead (2000)High above the Austrian ski resort of Kaprun, a funicular railway car carrying over 160 people to a glacier caught fire after a defective heater ignited hydraulic brake fluid in the rear of the car. Only partway through a 2-mi (3.2-km) tunnel, the car came to a sudden halt. As the fire grew, the passengers were plunged into darkness and trapped behind inoperable doors. Almost all who managed to escape the burning car suffocated in the tunnel. How did the 12 survivors manage to escape to safety? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Daisy Lee Gatson Bates (1914)Bates was a key figure in the integration of public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. The publisher of a newspaper, Bates began publicizing civil rights issues in the early 1940s. In 1957, when the Little Rock School Board chose nine black students to integrate the local high school, Bates organized the group's activities amid mob violence so intense that the students could only enter the school under military guard. On what national holiday is Daisy Gatson Bates Day observed in Arkansas? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 But curb thou the high spirit in thy breast, for gentle ways are best, and keep aloof from sharp contentions.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a good scout— An honest, affable, reliable, and trustworthy person. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Concordia Day (2022)A public holiday on the island of St. Martin in the West Indies, Concordia Day commemorates the 1648 agreement to divide the island between the Dutch and the French. To this day, St. Martin is the smallest territory shared by two sovereign states, with only a stone monument marking the boundary. Concordia Day celebrates the long-standing peaceful coexistence of the two countries by holding parades and a joint ceremony with French and Dutch officials at the border monument. November 11 is also the anniversary of the island's discovery in 1493 by Christopher Columbus. More... | |