Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
pandemonium Definition: (noun) A state of extreme confusion and disorder. Synonyms: bedlam, chaos, topsy-turvydom Usage: Instantly the avenue was a pandemonium of clashing blades, cursing warriors, and squealing throats.

Article of the Day

XYY Syndrome XYY syndrome is a chromosomal anomaly characterized by the presence of one X-chromosome and two Y-chromosomes. Some medical geneticists question whether the term "syndrome" is appropriate for this sex-linked trisomy, because afflicted males are physically normal—though they tend to be above average in height—and the vast majority of those affected do not know that they possess the extra chromosome. About 1 in 1,000 boys are born with this condition. How does the chromosomal disorder develop? More...

This Day in History

Jonathan Pollard Pleads Guilty to Espionage Charges (1986) After leaving graduate school in 1979, Pollard immediately began applying for intelligence positions, and landed one at the US Naval Investigative Service (NIS). In 1985, after he had attained a high level of clearance, coworkers noticed that he was accessing a huge number of documents for seemingly no reason. He was arrested and, the following year, pled guilty to selling secrets to Israel. He was sentenced to life in prison. What early clues nearly derailed his career before it started? More...

Today's Birthday

François Quesnay (1694) While serving as consulting physician to Louis XV at Versailles, Quesnay developed an interest in economics. In his 1758 Tableau économique, he described the relationship between the different economic classes of society and the flow of payments among them, and he developed the concept of economic balance used by many later economic analysts. An advocate of laissez-faire economics, he believed that all wealth originated with the land. What school of economics is he credited with founding? More...

Quotation of the Day
There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere. Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Idiom of the Day
a modest proposal — An extreme, unorthodox, and often provocative or distasteful remedy to a complex problem, generally suggested humorously or satirically. (An allusion to Jonathan Swift's 1729 essay A Modest Proposal, in which he suggests that the poor of Ireland could alleviate their woes by selling their children as food.) More...

Today's Holiday

Tiananmen Square Anniversary (2024) Each year thousands of people in Hong Kong, China, gather on June 4 to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre with a candlelight vigil. On that day in 1989, Chinese government tanks rolled into Beijing's Tiananman Square, killing hundreds of demonstrators calling for democratic reforms in China, and injuring 10,000 more. Since 1997, the Chinese government has discouraged the Hong Kong commemorations and pressured foreign news correspondents not to cover the yearly event. In the year 2002 about 45,000 people attended the vigil. More...