Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, April 28, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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egocentric
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| Article of the Day | |
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 Tulip ManiaIt takes seven years to grow a tulip from seed, and the bulb can only be uprooted in the summer months. Therefore, when the Dutch tulip market exploded in fall of 1636, few tulips physically changed hands before the futures market collapsed. According to some reports, at the height of the market, single bulbs were selling for more than houses before they even sprouted. It was the first documented speculation bubble. Why were the most expensive varieties those afflicted with a certain virus? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Charles de Gaulle Resigns as President of France (1969)A celebrated general and statesman, de Gaulle was elected first president of France's Fifth Republic—a system of government with broad executive powers—in 1959. He helped write the constitution and pushed for direct popular election of the president. The mass civil unrest of May 1968 by students and workers almost toppled his government, and in 1969 de Gaulle was defeated in a referendum on constitutional amendments and resigned. He died just a year later. Whom did he bar from his funeral? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Nelle Harper Lee (1926)The daughter of an Alabama lawyer, Lee studied law before publishing her first novel in 1960. To Kill a Mockingbird, the story of a white lawyer who defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl, immediately found national acclaim. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was adapted for film the next year, but Lee largely stayed out of the spotlight. What did she once write in response to a school board's decision to ban her novel? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 In any really good subject, one has only to probe deep enough to come to tears.Edith Wharton (1862-1937) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Hocktide (2020)Also known as Hock Days, the second Monday and Tuesday after Easter in England were in medieval times—and in Hungerford, Berkshire, till the present day—associated with collecting dues or rents and money for the church. Two "Tutti men" in top hats and morning coats (a "tutti" being a small bouquet of flowers) go from house to house carrying a "tutti pole" decorated with flowers and ribbons. There is also an orange scatterer who throws oranges to the men, old women, and children to keep them busy while the Tutti men go to houses demanding money. More... | |