Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, November 11, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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otiose
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Liquid CrystalsLiquid crystals are substances that flow like liquids but are composed of highly organized molecules similar to those in solid crystals. Their unusual and often manipulable optical properties have given rise to their widespread use in technology, such as in liquid crystal displays, or LCDs. Some liquid crystals change color depending on temperature or stress. Many common substances—such as cholesterol and solutions of soap—are liquid crystals. What virus exists in a liquid crystal state? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Kaprun Disaster Leaves 155 Dead (2000)High above the Austrian ski resort of Kaprun, a funicular railway car carrying over 160 people to a glacier caught fire after a defective heater ignited hydraulic brake fluid in the rear of the car. Only partway through a 2-mi (3.2-km) tunnel, the car came to a sudden halt. As the fire grew, the passengers were plunged into darkness and trapped behind inoperable doors. Almost all who managed to escape the burning car suffocated in the tunnel. How did the 12 survivors manage to escape to safety? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922)An influential American writer, Vonnegut used wry, black humor to highlight the horrors of 20th-century civilization. His novels, which include Breakfast of Champions and Player Piano, are frequently satirical and pessimistic, yet morally urgent. The best-selling Slaughterhouse-Five was based on Vonnegut's experience of surviving the firebombing of Dresden. Which of Vonnegut's novels was accepted by the University of Chicago as his thesis for an anthropology degree? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 But curb thou the high spirit in thy breast, for gentle ways are best, and keep aloof from sharp contentions.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Martin's Day (Portugal) (2020)On the Feast of São Martinho, people roast chestnuts, drink red Portuguese wine, and butcher a pig. There is a St. Martin's Day Fair at Golegã, in Ribatejo, that features a famous horse show at which some of the country's finest thoroughbreds are displayed. Another well-known St. Martin's Day Fair is held at Penafiel, in Trás-os-Montes. The parades and celebrations that are held in towns and villages throughout Portugal on this day are usually more secular than Christian in flavor. More... | |