Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, March 13, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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scapegrace
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Gonzo's RootsIn 1970, journalist Hunter S. Thompson was assigned to cover the Kentucky Derby for Scanlan's Monthly. With a deadline fast approaching and his story still unwritten, Thompson desperately resorted to tearing out pages of his notes and sending them to his editor. The resulting story, titled “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved,” became the first example of Gonzo journalism. Whose belief that “fiction is often the best fact” formed the basis for Thompson's subjective writing style? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Kapp Putsch Briefly Ousts Weimar Republic Government (1920)The fledgling Weimar Republic was just a year old when a renegade right-wing military unit made the first serious coup attempt. The government had tried to disband the unit to comply with the Versailles Treaty—which limited military power in Germany—so the brigade took Berlin. The legitimate regime fled, and Wolfgang Kapp, a radical civil servant, formed a new government. Within days, the coup collapsed and the former regime returned, thanks to a massive swell of support from whom? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Abraham "Al" Jaffee (1921)A regular contributor to Mad for more than 55 years, Jaffee is the satirical magazine's longest-running contributor, as both an illustrator and writer. Since 1964, only one issue has been published without new material from Jaffee, now in his 90s. He created some of the magazine's most popular features, such as blueprint-style inventions and his famous "fold-ins"—which he continues to draw by hand. Before joining Mad, Jaffee worked with what then-unknown comic book pioneer? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.Henry James (1843-1916) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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I suppose (so)— An expression of vague affirmation or assent. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Holi (2017)Holi is a colorful and boisterous Hindu spring festival in India, also known as the Festival of Colors. This is a time of shedding inhibitions: people smear each other with red and yellow powder and shower each other with colored water shot from bamboo blowpipes or water pistols. Restrictions of caste, sex, and personal differences are ignored. Bhang, an intoxicating drink made from the same plant that produces marijuana, is imbibed, and revelry reigns. The name of the festival derives from the name of the wicked Holika. On the night before the festival, images of Holika are burned on huge bonfires. More... | |
| In the News | |
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How Prehistoric Food Processing Helped Shape Our FacesWhen our genus, Homo, diverged from other hominins at least 2.8 million years ago, human skeletons began to change in significant and puzzling ways. Homo erectus, for example, was much taller and had a much larger brain case than the Australopith ... More... | |