Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, February 9, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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cutpurse
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Messinian Salinity CrisisAbout 5.6 million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic Ocean, likely due to tectonic shifts that closed the Strait of Gibraltar. For thousands of years afterward, the Mediterranean evaporated away, becoming saltier and leaving massive deposits of salt and minerals on the sea bed until the sea had disappeared. The straight was reopened and the sea refilled during a massive flood 500,000 years later. Today, the sea is still saltier than the Atlantic Ocean. Why? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Beatles Kick Off the British Invasion on The Ed Sullivan Show (1964)Hailed as a milestone in American pop culture, the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show attracted a record 73 million viewers—the majority of Americans watching television that night. As the band's first concert in the US, the event effectively marked the beginning of the "British Invasion." The band opened with "All My Loving" in front of hundreds of screaming teenage fans. What caption accompanied John Lennon's name when it appeared on-screen over a close-up of his face? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William Henry Harrison (1773)As the first governor of the Indiana Territory, Harrison negotiated treaties with Native Americans that ceded millions of acres of land to the US. In response, Tecumseh organized an uprising, which Harrison engaged at the famous Battle of Tippecanoe. He went on to lead forces in the War of 1812, recapturing Detroit from the British. Originally a Virginia aristocrat, he won the 1840 US presidential election by emphasizing his tough frontiersman image, only to die of what after a month in office? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Reason itself is true and just, but the reason of every particular man is weak and wavering, perpetually swayed and turned by his interests, his passions, and his vices.Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Maron's Day (2021)St. Maron (also spelled St. Maroun), the patron saint of Lebanon, was a monk who died in 410 CE. The Feast of St. Maron, as it is known in Lebanon, does not have the cultural significance for its citizens that it had in past eras—today, Maronites only make up one-quarter of the Lebanese population (between one-half and one million). In Lebanon and abroad, the most common ceremony of the feast day is the Maronite liturgy, which is a distinctive blend of Catholic doctrine, Arabic music, and singing in Syriac-Aramaic, a classical language that was spoken by Jesus. More... | |