Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, September 2, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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blabbermouth
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Jewels of the SeaAmong the most important and prolific sea creatures, diatoms are unicellular algae that exist singly but can join to form colonies. Characterized by a silica shell of often intricate and beautiful sculpturing, they are found in fresh and salt water, in moist soil, and on moist plant surfaces. As the principal constituent of plankton, diatoms are an important food source for many aquatic animals. The shells of dead aquatic diatoms form what sedimentary material used in the making of dynamite? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 "Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick" (1901)While speaking at the 1901 Minnesota State Fair, US Vice President Theodore Roosevelt used the proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Four days later, President McKinley was shot, and, after McKinley died on the 14th, Roosevelt became president. The statement he made in Minnesota became forever associated with his foreign policy of backing up negotiations with implicit military might, and political cartoons often portrayed him toting the proverbial stick. What is the rest of the saying? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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.png) Frederick Soddy (1877)Working with Ernest Rutherford, Soddy developed a theory of the disintegration of radioactive elements. In 1912, the British chemist was among the first to conclude that elements might exist in chemically indistinguishable forms—now known as isotopes—of different atomic weights. In his 1920 book Science and Life, he described the use of isotopes in determining geologic age. He later applied his scientific background to economic theories. What H.G. Wells novel was inspired by his work? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory...The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak…We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out.Jane Austen (1775-1817) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 National Old-Time Country Music Contest and Festival (2020)Created by Bob Everhart as part of America's bicentennial celebration in 1976, the National Old-Time Country Music Contest and Festival in Avoca, Iowa, is now the largest gathering of public domain music-makers and listeners in the United States. The festival's purpose is to preserve the music that, in Everhart's words, has been "in many instances altered so dramatically that it is no longer recognizable as a traditional American art form." There are more than 30 competitions in such varied musical genres as ragtime, polka, Cajun, mountain, folk, cowboy, Western, yodeling, and gospel. More... | |