Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, November 4, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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condescension
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| Article of the Day | |
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 BombaThe bomba kryptologiczna—Polish for "cryptologic bomb"—was a machine designed in 1938 by mathematician and Polish Cipher Bureau cryptologist Marian Rejewski to break German Enigma machine ciphers. Shortly before Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Rejewski and his colleagues shared their findings on Enigma decryption with the French and British. The intelligence gathered as a result contributed, perhaps decisively, to the defeat of Nazi Germany. How did the machine come to be called a "bomb"? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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.jpg) "Genie" the Feral Child Discovered by California Authorities (1970)One of the worst known cases of child abuse and social isolation in American history is that of "Genie," a girl forced to spend the first 13 years of her life alone in her bedroom, most of the time strapped to a potty chair. She was never spoken to and was apparently beaten if she attempted to speak. By the time she was discovered by authorities, she was nearly mute—her vocabulary consisted of about 20 words and a few short phrases. What did experts hope to learn by studying Genie? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Carlos Polestico Garcia (1896)After graduating from law school, Garcia became a schoolteacher, poet, and public official in his native Philippines. Elected vice president in 1953, he became president upon his predecessor's unexpected death in 1957. Though he maintained ties with the US, he was known for his "Filipino First" policy, which emphasized the sovereignty and economic interests of the Filipino people over those of outsiders. He retired from public life in 1961. However, in 1971, he died just days after doing what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I have made a plan for my life, as I am in my teens, and no more a child.Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Tonga National Day (2020)Located in the Pacific Ocean some 1,250 miles north of New Zealand, the island nation of Tonga consists of about 150 islands, 36 of which are inhabited. With a population of about 120,000, Tonga is ruled by a royal family that goes back to 1831. On November 4, 1875, King George Tupou I gave his consent to the constitution of the new nation of Tonga. Celebrated for many years as Tonga Constitution Day, the holiday was renamed by the government in 2006 as Tonga National Day and pronounced as an occasion to celebrate the country's heritage as a whole. More... | |