Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
imprimatur Definition: (noun) Formal and explicit approval. Synonyms: countenance, endorsement, sanction, warrant Usage: The candidate's campaign was bolstered by the imprimatur of New York's governor.

Article of the Day

Harold "Kim" Philby Initially a journalist, Philby became a high-ranking member of British intelligence and is believed to have provided the USSR with classified information that caused the deaths of scores of American and British agents. Always in danger of having his cover blown by Soviet defectors, Philby himself defected to the USSR in 1963, after he was exposed as a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring. Philby died in Moscow in 1988. What killed him? More...

This Day in History

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Takes Effect (1994) Signed by Canada, Mexico, and the US, NAFTA created the world's largest free-trade area. The agreement immediately lifted tariffs on the majority of goods produced by the signatory nations, and it called for the gradual elimination of most of the remaining barriers to cross-border investment and to the movement of goods and services among the three countries. Critics claim that NAFTA has led to job loss in the US due to the prevalence of maquiladoras, which are what? More...

Today's Birthday

Alfred Stieglitz (1864) Stieglitz was the first art photographer in the US. More than any other American, he compelled the recognition of photography as a fine art. After editing a series of photography magazines, he established the famous gallery "291" in New York City. The gallery soon broadened its scope from fine-art photography and introduced to the US works by members of the modern French art movement, including Cézanne and Picasso. It also exhibited the works of what American artist whom Stieglitz later married? More...

Quotation of the Day
Childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day. John Milton (1608-1674)

Idiom of the Day
look askance upon (someone or something) — To view or regard something in a disapproving or distrustful manner. More...

Today's Holiday
Cuba Liberation Day (2025) This national public holiday commemorates the overthrow of the military government of Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973) led by Fidel Castro (b. 1926) that succeeded on January 1, 1959. July 26 is National Day, another public holiday marking the beginning of the revolution Castro led in 1953. More...