Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, August 17, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
magnanimous
| |||||||
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Air Force OneThough often thought of as a specific airplane, Air Force One is the air traffic control call sign for any US Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. The call sign was established for security purposes in 1953 after a commercial flight with the same call sign as the president's plane accidentally entered the same airspace. Any Air Force aircraft carrying the Vice President is called Air Force Two. What was the first presidential transport plane nicknamed? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Miles Davis's Kind of Blue Is Released (1959)Recorded in just two sessions in the spring of 1959, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue is widely considered to be one of the most important jazz albums ever produced. Davis assembled a group of talented musicians—including saxophonist John Coltrane and pianist Bill Evans—and gave them minimal instructions before recording. Possibly the best-selling jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue is notable for having left out something considered to be the backbone of earlier jazz composition—what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Mae West (1893)West was an American stage and movie comedienne who started her career in burlesque and vaudeville. In 1926, she began to write, produce, and star in her own Broadway plays, which were often replete with sexual innuendo. A master of the double entendre, she treated sex with broad humor in popular films such as I'm No Angel. As a result, she constantly battled the censorship of the motion picture Production Code. Many of her one-liners have become classics. What are some examples? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 The scene, as beheld through the hazy atmosphere of this climate, is one of great interest; if, indeed, a person, fresh from sea, and who has just walked, for the first time, in a grove of cocoa-nut trees, can be a judge of anything but his own happiness.Charles Darwin (1809-1882) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 San Martín Day (Argentina) (2020)This national holiday in Argentina honors José Francisco de San Martín, who died on this day in 1850. Born in 1778 in a town called Yapeyú, San Martín, formerly a soldier in the Spanish army in Europe, came home in 1812 to fight in the revolution against Spain. He led forces across the Andes to defeat the Spanish in Chile and Peru. The victories he led assured independence from Spain for much of the region. After passing the torch to Simón Bolívar, San Martín resigned in 1822. He left Argentina in 1824, and lived out his life in exile in France. More... | |