Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, October 17, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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circumference
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| Article of the Day | |
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 TicklingTickling is perhaps one of the most common human behaviors known, and many of history's greatest thinkers have tried to explain it. Charles Darwin, for example, noticed that a person cannot tickle himself, and scientists have observed that ticklish spots are found in the same places as protective reflexes. These observations suggest that ticklishness confers an evolutionary advantage by encouraging individuals to reflexively protect themselves. Are animals ticklish? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Loyalty Day: Massive Crowd Demands Release of Juan Perón (1945)As secretary of labor and social welfare in the wake of the 1943 revolution in Argentina, Perón enacted a wide range of benefits for workers that earned him a loyal following. In October 1945, he was overthrown in a coup, arrested, and jailed. Mass demonstrations of workers forced his release on October 17, a day now known in Argentina as Loyalty Day. Shortly thereafter, Perón ran for president and was elected by a vast majority in 1946. He was forced into exile in 1955. When did he return? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Pope John Paul I (1912)Born Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul I was the first pope to choose a double name, a moniker that honored his two immediate predecessors, Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI. Refusing to have the centuries-old traditional papal coronation, he instead opted for a simplified ceremony. His 33-day papacy was one of the shortest reigns in papal history, resulting in the most recent "Year of Three Popes." Several conspiracy theories surround his death. In what position was his body found? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Alliance, n.: In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted into each others' pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Keene Pumpkin Festival (2020)Every year since 1991, the town of Keene, New Hampshire, has held the Pumpkin Festival, in which tens of thousands of carved and lit pumpkins are displayed on scaffolding standing some 50 feet high. The scaffolding is arranged as walls and as four massive towers, and pumpkins are carved and displayed in rows thereon. In the evening, candles are lit within each pumpkin to form great flickering orange walls that light up the crowds. Related activities include the largest children's costume parade in New England, a pumpkin pie eating contest, and a pumpkin seed spitting contest. More... | |