Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, February 19, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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scrooge
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| Article of the Day | |
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 The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension ActIn 1998, the United States signed The Copyright Term Extension Act into law, thereby extending the copyright terms set forth in the international Berne Convention of 1886. The act increased America's term of protection for copyrighted works by 20 years. Sonny Bono, a songwriter, filmmaker, and congressman, was a major proponent of copyright extension, and the act, passed nine months after his death, was named in his honor. Why is the act pejoratively known as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Former US Vice President Aaron Burr Arrested for Treason (1807)Nearly three years after killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, former US Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested on unrelated charges of treason. Though the exact details of his plan were a mystery even then, he was accused of plotting to establish an independent country of his own, possibly in the American Southwest. He was treated well while imprisoned at Fort Stoddert and was eventually acquitted, but his political career was destroyed. Which of his co-conspirators turned on him? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 André Breton (1896)Breton was a French writer, critic, and editor. In 1919, he helped found the Dadaist review Littérature. Influenced by psychiatry and the Symbolist movement, he wrote poetry using the automatic-writing technique. In 1924, his Manifeste du surréalisme—Surrealist Manifesto—provided a definition of Surrealism as "pure psychic automatism." In 1938, he founded the Fédération de l'Art Revolutionnaire Indépendant in Mexico with what one-time commander of the Red Army? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is salutary to train oneself to be no more affected by censure than by praise.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin (2021)On February 19, 1942, Japanese bomber and fighter planes conducted a devastating air raid on the town of Darwin, the capital city of Australia's Northern Territory. As a tribute to honor the dead and those who defended Darwin, an annual commemoration is held in Bicentennial Park by the Cenotaph, a monument to those slain in World War I. At 9:58, the exact time the attack began, a World War II air raid siren sounds. During some observances, Australian regiments will reenact the attack: ground units fire their guns, and fighter planes perform fly-bys over the memorial site. More... | |