Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, August 8, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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luminary
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Henry Wadsworth LongfellowLongfellow was a popular 19th c. American poet. He wrote some of the most popular poems in American literature and his works created a new body of romantic American legends. In preparation for professorships, he traveled to Europe twice to study languages. His works were immensely popular during his lifetime and remain so, despite critics' complaints that they are simple, sentimental, and moralizing. As a teenager, Longfellow began a lifelong friendship with what other famous American novelist? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Great Train Robbery (1963)On the night of August 7, 1963, a postal train left Glasgow with a High Value Package (HVP) coach containing registered mail and a large sum of money. Before dawn the next morning, the driver sighted a red signal and, not knowing that the light had been tampered with, brought the train to a halt as was protocol. Fifteen robbers descended on the train, attacking the train's operators, restraining the postal workers in the HVP coach, and making off with £2.6 million. Were the robbers ever caught? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902)Dirac was an influential English mathematician and theoretical physicist. In 1928, he published a version of quantum mechanics taking into account the theory of relativity. His theory predicted an antiparticle to the electron, and, in 1932, the positron was discovered. That year, Dirac was appointed to the same University of Cambridge chair once held by Isaac Newton. Likely autistic, Dirac was known for his precise nature and literal view of the world. How did he once introduce his wife? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Ugliness, n.: A gift of the gods to certain women, entailing virtue without humility.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Eisteddfod (2020)The Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales dates back to the 12th century. Its purpose is to encourage the preservation of Welsh music and literature, and only those who sing or write in Welsh may enter. The annual event opens with the blowing of trumpets, followed by all kinds of musical and literary contests—harp playing, solo and choral singing, dramatic presentations, and poetic composition. The National Eisteddfod is held in northern Wales one year and southern Wales the next. Other Eisteddfodau are held in Welsh communities elsewhere from May to November. More... | |