Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, June 15, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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rebarbative
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Brocken SpecterA Brocken specter is an optical phenomenon sometimes seen at high altitudes, when the observer is between the sun and a mass of clouds. The figures of the observer and surrounding objects are seen projected on the clouds, greatly enlarged and often encircled by a colorful halo. The phenomenon, named after a peak in Germany's Harz Mountains where it is often observed, can be seen on misty mountainsides, in cloud banks, and even from airplanes. What causes these shadows to appear so magnified? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Charles Goodyear Granted Patent for Vulcanization (1844)Goodyear was the inventor of vulcanization, a process that makes rubber harder, less soluble, and more durable. Previously, rubber products were sticky and volatile, often melting in heat or hardening in cold. He obtained a patent for vulcanization in 1844 but was still badly in debt at the time of his death. Goodyear had no official connection to the famed Goodyear Tire Company, which was founded decades later and named in his honor. Why was he in prison when he began experimenting with rubber? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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_by_Erling_Mandelmann_-_2.jpg) Hugo Pratt (1927)Italian comic book author Hugo Pratt spent his early childhood in Venice and moved with his parents to Ethiopia when he was 10. Following WWII, he returned to Italy, but he did not remain there for long. Pratt traveled widely, and his wanderlust is mirrored in his best-known character, Corto Maltese, a roving sea captain and adventurer. A meticulous researcher, Pratt often incorporated actual historic figures and events into Maltese's fictional adventures. Where was Pratt imprisoned as a child? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Often and often afterwards, the beloved Aunt would ask me why I had never told anyone how I was being treated. Children tell little more than animals, for what comes to them they accept as eternally established.Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Sanno Matsuri (2020)Held in Tokyo at the Hie Shrine, the Sanno Matsuri is held every two years. People in special holiday outfits jam into the shrine complex. On June 15, the shrine's mikoshi (portable shrines) and gilded lions' heads are brought out for the main parade, accompanied by about 400 participants dressed in costumes of the Heian Era. The shrine maidens perform kagura—sacred dance and music in honor of the gods. A good-luck ceremony known as the Chi-no-Wa Shinji involves passing through a big circle woven together with chigaya (a kind of grass) attached to a bamboo frame. More... | |