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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 Barney Clark Receives World's First Permanent Artificial Heart (1982)In the late 1940s, doctors at the Yale School of Medicine used parts from an Erector Set to build the first artificial heart pump. The device bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour. However, an artificial heart would not be implanted in a human until decades later. Barney Clark, a Seattle dentist with congestive heart failure, was the first recipient. Though the surgery was successful, Clark never recovered enough to leave the hospital and died of complications after how long? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Otto Dix (1891)A German painter and printmaker, Dix fought in World War I and returned haunted by what he had witnessed. After experimenting with Impressionism and Dada, he arrived at Expressionism and began producing works depicting nightmarish scenes of the horrors of war and the depravities of a decadent society. His antimilitary works aroused the wrath of the Nazi regime and he was dismissed from his academic posts in 1933. On what charges was he arrested in 1939? 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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 Advent (2018)The Advent season marks the beginning of the Christian year in Western Christianity. Its length varies from 22 to 28 days, beginning on the Sunday nearest St. Andrew's Day and encompassing the next three Sundays, ending on Christmas Eve. Originally a period of reflection and penitence in preparation for Christmas, Advent has sometimes been referred to as the Winter Lent. Today it is usually associated with the Advent calendars that parents give their children to help them count the days until Christmas. In Orthodox (Eastern) Christianity, Advent begins on November 15. More... | |