Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, December 12, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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insentient
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Klaus BarbieBarbie, nicknamed the Butcher of Lyon for his brutality, was a high-ranking German Nazi official. The SS commander personally tortured prisoners and ordered the deportation of 44 Jewish orphans to Auschwitz. Following the end of WWII, Barbie was employed by the US intelligence services in Germany before fleeing to Bolivia in 1951. He was located there by Nazi hunters in 1971, and was convicted of crimes against humanity in France in 1987. Barbie is blamed for the deaths of how many people? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Battle of Nineveh (627 CE)The Battle of Nineveh was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Dynasty, the last dynasty of native rulers to reign in Persia. Heraclius, the Byzantine emperor, was able to draw his Persian adversaries onto a favorable battlefield by feigning a retreat, thereby securing victory for his troops. The loss seriously damaged the Sassanids' power. Within decades, the weakened Sassanid dynasty would be toppled by the Arab Conquest. What fate did the Sassanid king suffer after Nineveh? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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.jpg) John Jay (1745)Though Jay initially deplored the growing conflict between Britain and its American colonies, he became a staunch supporter of the revolution once it began. He was heavily involved in early US government and urged ratification of the Constitution. He served as the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, among other posts. Today considered one of the "Founding Fathers," Jay once joked that he could travel from Boston to Philadelphia by the light of his burning effigies after he had done what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 In art economy is always beauty.Henry James (1843-1916) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (2020)Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico, and on December 12 thousands of pilgrims flock to her shrine at the famous Church of Guadalupe outside Mexico City. On the evening of December 11, crowds have already gathered for singing and special ceremonies at midnight, which are carried on national television. This great religious festival commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill, north of present-day Mexico City. The story is reenacted in a puppet show each year, and relics of Our Lady of Guadalupe are sold in the streets. More... | |