Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, September 23, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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peavey
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| Article of the Day | |
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 The Water ClockThe clepsydra, or water clock, is an ancient timekeeper that operates by measuring the regulated flow of liquid into or out of a vessel. It is believed to have been used in Egypt as early as 2,000 BCE, making it one of the earliest known time-measurement devices. Early water clocks were calibrated with a sundial, and they remained the most accurate timekeeping devices until the invention of the pendulum clock in the 17th century. When did knowing the time become important to the common man? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Merchant Royal Sinks, Taking Cargo of Gold and Silver with Her (1641)A holy grail of marine salvage, the wreck of the Merchant Royal, one of the most valuable of all time, has eluded treasure hunters for centuries. When the leaky, 17th-century English merchant ship sank in rough weather in the vicinity of the Isles of Scilly and southwestern England, she took with her a fabled cargo of gold, silver, and precious gems worth over a billion dollars today. Among the riches lost in the wreck was the money to pay whom? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Suzanne Valadon (1865)After a fall from the trapeze ended her career as a circus acrobat, Valadon modeled for many of the major impressionists. Encouraged by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Edgar Degas, she began painting and became known for her intensely personal works, including landscapes, nudes, and portraits featuring vibrant colors with heavy black outlines. Valadon was the mother of painter Maurice Utrillo. Somewhat eccentric, she kept a goat at her studio, claiming that it served what practical purpose? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If youth did not matter so much to itself it would never have the heart to go on.Willa Cather (1873-1947) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Aizu Byakko Matsuri (2018)Aizu was once the sturdiest castle in northeast Japan, but it was destroyed in a battle between the Emperor's forces and the Shogun's forces in 1868. The Byakkotai, or White Tiger Band, young men who vowed to lay down their lives in defense of the castle, saw what they thought was fire rising from the walls. Thinking it had fallen into enemy hands, they killed themselves. Each September to commemorate their courage, there is a procession of 500 warriors and a lantern procession through Aizu Wakamatsu, where the original members of the White Tiger Band are buried. More... | |