Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, January 30, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
reprehensible
| |||||||
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Thermobaric WeaponsAlso known as fuel-air explosives, thermobaric weapons are considered to be as devastating as some nuclear weapons. Whereas most conventional explosives contain a mixture of fuel and oxygen, thermobaric weapons can hold more fuel because they rely on oxygen from the surrounding air. After a small charge is detonated to disperse the bomb's contents into the air, a second charge is used to ignite the cloud, creating an enormous, high-pressure blast wave. What was the "Father of All Bombs"? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 First Attempted Assassination of a US President (1835)US President Andrew Jackson was leaving a congressional funeral held at the Capitol when an unemployed, mentally ill housepainter named Richard Lawrence made an attempt on his life. Fortuitously, Lawrence's pistol misfired. Improbably, the second pistol he produced did too. The 67-year-old president attacked Lawrence with his cane, and the deranged gunman was caught and institutionalized. What surprising discovery was made when the guns were tested to determine what had caused them to misfire? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Richard Brautigan (1935)Born in Tacoma, Washington, and raised in abject poverty, Brautigan became a counterculture hero of the 1960s and 70s with his surrealistically random novels and poems about alienation. His extremely original, loosely connected fiction includes A Confederate General from Big Sur, In Watermelon Sugar, and the 1967 bestseller Trout Fishing in America. Suffering from alcoholism and depression, Brautigan committed suicide in September of 1984. When was his body discovered? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Day of the Three Archbishops (2021)In 11th-century Greece, there was a popular controversy over which of the three archbishops—Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, or John Chrysostom—was the greatest saint of the Greek Orthodox Church. In 1081, Bishop John of Galatia reported that the three saints had appeared to him in a vision to say that they were equal in the eyes of God. Their equality is celebrated on this day. In schools, special exercises are held in honor of the three saints, who supported classical Greek tradition at a time when many were opposed to all non-Christian literature. More... | |