Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
surcease Definition: (noun) A stopping. Synonyms: cessation Usage: More than anything else in the world, my frayed and frazzled mind wanted surcease from weariness in the way it knew surcease would come.

Article of the Day

The Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library is the main research library of the University of Oxford and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. The original library, destroyed in the reign of Edward VI, was replaced in 1602, chiefly through the efforts of Sir Thomas Bodley. The library has one of the great collections of English books, and its extensive manuscript collection is especially rich in biblical and Arabic material. Centuries of Oxford scholars have informally called it the what? More...

This Day in History

George Bizet's Carmen Premieres in Paris (1875) Though it is today one of the most popular operas ever written, Carmen was initially met with such scathing reviews that the opera house had to give away tickets to get people to see it. Shortly after its disastrous premiere, its author, Bizet, died of a heart attack and the director of the struggling opera house resigned. Later that year, however, Carmen opened in Vienna to wide acclaim. Why did critics initially hate Bizet's story of a soldier's doomed love for a wild Gypsy girl? More...

Today's Birthday

George Mortimer Pullman (1831) Pullman was a successful American industrialist and the inventor of the railroad sleeping car. In 1893, he built a company town for his workers in Illinois, and it was showcased in the World's Fair as a grand social experiment. The next year, the town of Pullman was the scene of a violent workers' strike that nearly halted US rail traffic. When Pullman died in 1897, he had to be buried in a massive steel-and-concrete vault to keep activists from disinterring his body. What happened to his town? More...

Quotation of the Day
Thirst teaches all animals to drink, but drunkenness belongs only to man. Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

Idiom of the Day
make a mark — To do something that makes one famous or successful; to do something that is very important or meaningful. More...

Today's Holiday

Hina Matsuri (2024) Hina Matsuri is a festival for girls, celebrated in homes throughout Japan since the Edo Period (1600-1867). A set of 10 to 15 dolls (or hina), usually family heirlooms from various generations, is displayed on a stand covered with red cloth. Dressed in elaborate silk costumes, the dolls represent the emperor and empress, court ministers, and servants. In parts of Tottori Prefecture, girls make boats of straw, place a pair of paper dolls in them and set them afloat on the Mochigase River. The custom dates back to ancient times when dolls were used as talismans to exorcize evil. More...