Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, March 17, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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redoubt
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| Article of the Day | |
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 The Aramaic LanguageDuring the 12th century BCE, Aramaean nomads, the native speakers of Aramaic, began to settle in modern-day Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. As Aramaic grew in importance, it spread throughout the Fertile Crescent as a lingua franca, or common language, and settlers and missionaries later brought the Semitic language to parts of N Africa, Europe, Persia, India, and China. What 2004 film became a major box-office success despite the fact that most of its dialogue is spoken in ancient Aramaic? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Veder Snaps Pulitzer Prize-Winning Burst of Joy (1973)Taken at the end of the Vietnam War, Slava "Sal" Veder's Burst of Joy became a symbol of the widespread sentiment in America that the horrors of war were over and military families could begin the healing process. The photo captures the return home of Lt. Col. Robert Stirm, who had been shot down over North Vietnam and held as a prisoner of war for over five years. It shows his children running to greet him on the tarmac, his daughter with open arms. Why was the reunion bittersweet? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones, Jr. (1902)A practicing attorney, Jones was only an amateur golfer, yet in 1930 he became the only man to win four major golf championships in a single year and the only sports figure to be honored with two New York City ticker-tape parades. At 28, he had already won 13 major championships. He was hailed for his sportsmanship when he lost a major tournament by one stroke after calling a penalty on himself for an infraction that no one else saw. What was the infraction, and what tournament did he lose? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in a bad light— Negatively; under unfavorable circumstances. (Typically used with the verbs "see" or "show," or some similar variation.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Liberalia (2017)Liber and Libera were ancient Roman fertility deities, worshipped along with Ceres. The triad of Ceres, Liber, and Libera was identified with the Greek deities Demeter, Dionysus, and Persephone. At the festival held in honor of Liber and Libera on March 17, young Roman boys who had come of age wore the toga virilis for the first time. In the ancient Italian town of Lavinium, a whole month was consecrated to Liber. The various rituals carried out during this time were designed to ensure the growth of newly planted seeds. More... | |
| In the News | |
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Dragons, Aliens, Bugs? Scientists May Have Solved the Mystery of the Desert's "Fairy Circles"The enigmatic circles of sand — burnt orange, almost impeccably round and rimmed by a fringe of tall grass — are spaced at surprisingly regular intervals across the otherwise barren landscape. Over the course of decades, they appear, expand and then ... More... | |