Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
gravitas Definition: (noun) Formality in bearing and appearance. Synonyms: lordliness, dignity Usage: Our national father figure needs gravitas, [but] he's pitched himself as the kid brother.

Article of the Day

Human Vestigiality Thanks to evolution, humans have a number of anatomical structures that today have little or no use. Along with vestigial features such as wisdom teeth and the tail bone—which are thought to hearken back to a time when our ancestors consumed lots of raw plants and balanced with their tails—there are also vestigial reflexes. One example is goose bumps, which would raise our fur, if we still had it, and make us seem more menacing. What purpose might the appendix, long considered vestigial, serve? More...

This Day in History

Santiago, Chile, Founded (1541) Santiago is the capital and the largest city of Chile. Just months after it was founded on the banks of the Mapocho River by Spanish conquistadors, the settlement was nearly wiped out by the indigenous Mapuche peoples. Today, it is one of the largest cities in South America, having survived the 1647 earthquake that leveled the city, frequent flooding from the Mapocho, and a number of other calamities. What meteorological phenomenon traps smog in the city? More...

Today's Birthday

William Roscoe Estep (1920) Estep was an American Baptist historian, author, and professor of church history. He was considered one of the world's leading authorities on the Anabaptist movement, a Christian sect that rejects infant baptism and practices the ritual of believer's baptism only after a person has made a declaration of faith. Estep wrote numerous works, including books on subjects such as Baptist and Anabaptist history, religious liberty, and world missions. At what theological seminary did he teach? More...

Quotation of the Day
I never thrust my nose into other men's porridge. It is no bread and butter of mine; every man for himself, and God for us all. Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)

Idiom of the Day
make advances at (someone) — To approach someone in a flirtatious, amorous, or sexual manner; to try or begin to seduce someone. More...

Today's Holiday

Myanmar Union Day (2024) In the Union of Myanmar, also known as Burma, Union Day commemorates the day in 1947 that Bogyoke Aung San, a Burmese nationalist leader, helped to unify all of Burma. Five days before Union Day, an annual relay of the Union flag begins. A ceremony to mark the start of the relay is held at City Hall. The flag is carried through 45 townships before arriving at People's Square on Pyay Road for a Union Day ceremony. More...