Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, January 24, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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haberdasher
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Fainting GoatsWhen a fainting goat is startled, its external muscles freeze for about 10 seconds, causing it collapse as if in a faint. Older goats generally learn to spread their legs or lean against something when startled and remain standing during these episodes. The condition is caused by a hereditary genetic disorder called myotonia congenita, which disrupts the flow of chloride ions into skeletal muscle cells. What key aspect of human fainting does not happen to these goats? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Serial Killer Ted Bundy Is Executed (1989)In December 1977, Ted Bundy escaped from jail in Colorado—for the second time—and fled to Florida. There, he resumed a streak of murders that he had begun in 1974, killing 12-year-old Kimberly Leach, among others. He was soon re-arrested, convicted of several murders, and sentenced to death. In an effort to avoid execution, Bundy confessed to numerous killings and promised to reveal more information in time. Despite this, he was executed in 1989. How many women is Bundy thought to have killed? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Edith Wharton (1862)Born into upper-class American society, Wharton was privately educated. She married a Boston banker in 1885, but as her older husband's mental health deteriorated, she devoted herself to writing. The success of her 1905 novel The House of Mirth established her as a leading writer, but she is perhaps best known for 1911's Ethan Frome, which explores the grimmer possibilities of New England farm life. What common saying is thought to have originally referred to Wharton's family? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 No man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part.Herman Melville (1819-1891) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Alasitas Fair (2021)Each year on this day, a large marketplace in La Paz, Bolivia, is full of merchants who traditionally call out "Alasitas," an Aymara word meaning "buy from me," to potential buyers of their miniature wares. Shoppers can find tiny replicas of just about every kind of object—cars, houses, foods, furniture, clothes, tools, household goods, and, especially, money—and seek those which represent items they would like to have in the coming year. Presiding over all this downsized commerce is Ekeko, an Aymara god of material wealth, fertility, and good luck. More... | |