Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, July 12, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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flinty
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| Article of the Day | |
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 SandboardingSandboarding is a sport similar to snowboarding, except that instead of sliding down the side of a snowy mountain, participants slide down sand dunes—some of which can be hundreds of feet high. For practical reasons, it is most prevalent in desert or coastal regions, and several sandboarding competitions and championships are held around the world. One significant drawback to boarding on sand instead of snow is that, unlike on mountains, dune riders do not have what convenience? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 King Henry VIII of England Marries Sixth and Last Wife, Catherine Parr (1543)By 1543, Henry VIII had had five marriages, which respectively ended in one divorce, one annulment, and three deaths—two by beheading. He then married Parr, his sixth and final wife. She had a good influence on the increasingly paranoid king—her third husband—and developed close friendships with his children, even acting as guardian of one of Henry's daughters after his death in 1547. Why, then, did Parr send her beloved stepdaughter, the future Queen Elizabeth I, away the next year? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Oscar Hammerstein II (1895)The grandson of an opera impresario of the same name, Hammerstein studied law before beginning the theater career that made him one of the foremost songwriters in the US. In the early 1940s, he began a prolific and successful collaboration with Richard Rodgers that resulted in plays like The King and I, The Sound of Music, and the Pulitzer Prize winners Oklahoma! and South Pacific. The eight-time Tony Award winner is also the only person named Oscar to have done what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Douai Festival of the Giants (Fête des Géants) (2020)For three days and nights during the Fête des Géants in Douai, France, the figure of Gayant is carried through the streets to the accompaniment of drums and church bells. About 25 feet tall and wearing a military uniform, Gayant is followed by his wife, Marie, and then their three children. The giants go to the town hall to salute the mayor, after which they continue on to the Place D'Armes and take part in the festivities. Another famous procession of the giants takes place in the city of Lille on Whit Monday, when more than 100 of these fabulous figures are carried through the streets of the town. More... | |