Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, June 12, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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loquacious
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| Article of the Day | |
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 ThermopylaeThermopylae is a narrow coastal passage between Locris and Thessaly in Greece that has been the site of several battles. There in 480 BCE, Leonidas with his Spartans and their allies lost a heroic battle to the Persians under Xerxes. At the pass in 279 BCE, the Greeks held back the Gauls under Brennus, who ultimately broke through, and, in 191 BCE, Antiochus III of Syria was defeated there by the Romans. What does "Thermopylae" mean in Greek? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Battle of Cold Harbor Ends (1864)Cold Harbor was one of the bloodiest and most lopsided engagements of the US Civil War. As many as 13,000 Union soldiers were killed, injured, or captured in the assault on the fortified Confederate line, whereas the Confederates suffered only a few thousand casualties. After two weeks of battle, Union General Ulysses S. Grant decided he could not justify his losses and ordered a retreat, later expressing regret over the disastrous assault. Whose remains did soldiers discover while entrenching? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Harriet Martineau (1802)A chronically ill woman who lost her hearing in childhood, Martineau nevertheless went on to become a prolific and enormously popular English author. The sister of a minister, she first published articles on religious subjects, but it was her series of books on economics written for the layman that brought her renown. After a visit to the US in 1834, she became an abolition advocate and wrote several critical works on American culture. What Charles Dickens character may have been based on her? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 In fact, now I come to think of it, do we decide questions, at all? We decide answers, no doubt: but surely the questions decide us? It is the dog, you know, that wags the tail—not the tail that wags the dog.Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Common Ridings Day (Selkirk) (2020)Many Scottish border towns hold a ceremony known as Common Ridings or Riding the Marches in June or July. The custom dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was often necessary to reconfirm boundaries in order to retain royal charters. The two main observations of Common Ridings occur in Selkirk and Haywick in June. In Selkirk, the event is combined with a commemoration of the 1513 Battle of Flodden, in which King James IV of Scotland and 10,000 others were killed. The Royal Burgh Standard Bearer leads a cavalcade of 200 riders around the borders of the town common. More... | |