Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, August 08, 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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 8888 Popular Uprising (1988)In the early 1970s, various insurgent groups controlled about one third of Burma. Economic strife and ethnic tensions throughout the 1970s and 80s led to antigovernment riots that began on August 8, 1988—08-08-88—and led to the resignation of President Ne Win. Succeeding governments failed to restore order, and the military seized control under the name of the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Burma was renamed Myanmar three years later. What 1995 film is set during the 8888 uprising? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Esther Hobart Morris (1814)Morris was the first female justice of the peace in the US. A mother of three, she began her tenure as justice in 1870, after the previous justice resigned in protest of Wyoming's passage of the women's suffrage amendment. She attracted national attention and tried some 70 cases, becoming a legendary figure in the suffrage movement. The state of Wyoming officially commemorated her role as a leading suffragist in 1890. Why then is the extent of her contribution to the suffrage movement debated? 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) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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brainwave— A sudden idea or moment of inspiration; a brainstorm. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Victory Day (Rhode Island) (2016)V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day) commemorates the anniversary of Japan's surrender to the Allies in 1945, ending World War II. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and Nagasaki on Aug. 9, and the Soviet Union's invasion of Manchuria in the previous week made the surrender inevitable. V-J Day is a legal holiday only in the state of Rhode Island, where it is called Victory Day. It is celebrated on the second Monday of August. More... | |
| In the News | |
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Stolen Stradivarius Violin Is Recovered after 35 YearsRenowned violinist Roman Totenberg left his beloved Stradivarius in his office while greeting well-wishers after a concert in 1980. When he returned, it was gone. Its case was later found in the basement of the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, ... More... | |