Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, October 28, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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recrudesce
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| Article of the Day | |
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 The Rotten Egg NebulaThe Calabash Nebula is a protoplanetary nebula 1.4 light years long and located approximately 5,000 light years from Earth. It is sometimes called the Rotten Egg Nebula because it contains a relatively large amount of sulfur. The densest parts of the nebula are composed of material ejected recently by the central star and accelerated in opposite directions at incredibly high speeds. What do astronomers believe will happen to the Calabash Nebula 1,000 years from now? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Harvard College Is Founded (1636)Founded with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Harvard College was named for its first benefactor, John Harvard. He bequeathed his books and about £780 to the fledgling college. The oldest and one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the US, Harvard originally trained Puritan ministers. Today, it has the largest university endowment in the US, estimated at more than $25 billion in 2009. Why did Harvard athletes first adopt the color red? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Evelyn Waugh (1903)Waugh was an English novelist who is widely considered the greatest satirist of his generation. His novels, characterized by sardonic wit, technical brilliance, and his devoted Catholicism, include A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited. Waugh also wrote amusing travel books. After service in World War II, he led a retired life, and his writing grew increasingly misanthropic. In 1925, Waugh's suicide attempt was thwarted when he was coincidentally attacked by what animal? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Jude's Day (2020)Because St. Jude is believed to have been martyred with St. Simon in Persia, where they had gone to preach Christianity, their feast is celebrated jointly on October 28, thought to be the date on which their relics were moved to old St. Peter's basilica. Since St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless causes, the saint day is observed particularly by students. St. Jude and St. Joseph traditionally are the most important saints to Roman Catholics in Buffalo, New York, where people buy St. Jude medals to help them win over impossible odds or achieve the unachievable. More... | |