Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, March 25, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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gentility
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Fashion in the 15th CenturyFashion in 15th-century Europe was characterized by a series of extremes and extravagances. As Europe continued to become more prosperous, the urban middle class, including skilled workers, began to wear more complex clothes that followed the fashions set by the elite, ranging from voluminous gowns—called houppelandes—with sweeping, floor-length sleeves to draped, jeweled, and feathered hats, hoods, and other headdresses. What was the fashion trend known as slashing? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Sergei Krikalev, the "Last Soviet Citizen," Returns to Earth (1992)In May 1991, the Soviet Union launched the Soyuz TM-12 mission to the Mir space station. Within months, all but one of the mission's crew members had returned to Earth. Krikalev, a Soviet flight engineer, stayed behind to help staff Mir and conduct experiments. That December, the USSR dissolved. When the cosmonaut finally returned to Earth the following spring, it was as a citizen of Russia. Krikalev has spent more time in space than any other human—how many days in total? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Saint Catherine of Siena (1347)Born in Siena, Italy, as Caterina Benincasa, Catherine claimed to have mystic visions beginning in early childhood. In 1370, in response to a vision, she began sending letters to prominent figures. She later traveled to Avignon and influenced Pope Gregory XI to end the "Babylonian captivity" of the papacy and return to Rome. Although she never learned to write, she dictated hundreds of letters and some notable mystic works. Catherine is believed to have suffered from what condition? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Let a fool be made serviceable according to his folly.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Palm Sunday (Austria) (2018)Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, where he was greeted by people waving palm branches. In Austria and the Bavarian region of Germany, farmers make Palmbuschen by attaching holly leaves, willow boughs, and cedar twigs to the tops of long poles. After the Palmbuschen have been blessed in the local church, the farmers set them up in their fields or barns to ward off illness, to protect their crops from hail and drought, and to preserve their families from other disasters. The Palmbuschen are kept there throughout the year. More... | |