Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, December 2, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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discomfit
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| Article of the Day | |
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 La TomatinaApproximately 30,000 people participate in La Tomatina, an annual festival held on the last Wednesday in August in the Spanish town of Buñol. A weeklong festival features music, parades, dancing, and fireworks, but it is the tomato fight that draws the crowds. During the battle, more than 100 metric tons of overripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets. Participants must follow certain safety guidelines during the event, and wearing goggles is recommended. When does the tomato throwing begin? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Self-Sustaining Nuclear Chain Reaction Is Demonstrated (1942)Constructed under an abandoned stand of bleachers at the University of Chicago, the world's first artificial nuclear reactor was little more than a pile of uranium and graphite bricks. It was built as part of the Manhattan Project under the supervision of renowned physicist Enrico Fermi. The first successful demonstration lasted 28 minutes and was a milestone in the history of physics. What code phrase did scientists use to convey the reactor's success to government officials? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Maria Callas (1923)An internationally known Greek-American opera star, Callas was celebrated less for her voice than for her electrifying stage presence and mastery of difficult roles. Her career blossomed in the 1940s. Offstage, her fiery temperament, dramatic love life, and demanding personality earned her the reputation of a consummate diva. During her media-fueled rivalry with soprano Renata Tebaldi in the 1950s, Callas was quoted as saying that comparing her to Tebaldi was like comparing what two things? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages.Washington Irving (1783-1859) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 United Arab Emirates National Day (2020)This national holiday commemorates the December 2, 1971, expiration of a British treaty that inhibited self-rule for the sheikhdoms on the Persian Gulf in the eastern Arabian peninsula, and the union of seven of the sheikhdoms in the former Trucial States to become the United Arab Emirates. The Emirates' major cities celebrate National Day December 2-3. More... | |