Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, January 1, 2018)Word of the Day | |||||||
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Article of the Day | |
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Munchausen Syndrome by ProxyFabricated or induced illness (FII), originally and more commonly known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, involves a caregiver feigning or inducing an illness in another person, usually to gain control over the victim as well as to elicit attention or sympathy from others. The caregiver is usually a parent, guardian, or spouse, and the victim is usually a vulnerable child or adult. Is FII listed as a recognized mental disorder in the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? More... |
This Day in History | |
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Frankenstein Is Published (1818)Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus is a gothic novel that spawned a new genre of horror stories. It tells the story of Frankenstein, a scientist who discovers how to bring inanimate matter to life and, in the process, creates a man-monster. When Frankenstein fails to provide a mate to satisfy the creature's human emotions, it seeks revenge. Mary Shelley came up with the idea for the novel while vacationing at the home of what famous poet? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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Chiune Sugihara (1900)A Japanese diplomat, Sugihara was sent to Kaunas, Lithuania, in the early days of World War II. There, in direct violation of his orders from Tokyo, the consul began issuing transit visas for fleeing Jews. Without such visas, the refugees would not have been permitted to leave the country. In little over a month, he wrote thousands of visas, continuing even as the train removing him from his consulate post pulled out of the station. How did the Japanese government react to his insubordination? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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Sympathy constitutes friendship; but in love there is a sort of antipathy, or opposing passion. Each strives to be the other, and both together make up one whole. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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close the barn door after the horse has bolted— To try to prevent or rectify a problem after the damage has already been done. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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Oshogatsu (2023)This is the "festival of festivals" in Japan, and it is celebrated for several days. Government offices, banks, museums and most businesses are closed from New Year's Day, a national holiday, through January 3. For weeks before New Year's, people clean house and purchase new clothes for the children. On New Year's Day, it's customary to pray at the household altar and to eat special foods, such as small, round, gooey rice cakes called mochi. Herring roe is eaten for fertility, black beans for health, dried chestnuts for success, and porgy and prawns are omens of happiness. More... |