Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
inductee Definition: (noun) Someone who is drafted into military service. Synonyms: conscript, draftee Usage: Before beginning basic training, each inductee was given a haircut and a uniform.

Article of the Day

The Leatherman For more than 30 years in the mid- and late 1800s, a figure known as the Leatherman regularly walked a 365-mile route through Connecticut and New York. He was famous for his handmade suit made entirely of leather, and townspeople would save food for him in anticipation of his arrival every 34 days. He lived in caves, which he heated by building fires. Very little is known about his background. Though he was said to speak French, he communicated mostly by gestures. What name graces his headstone? More...

This Day in History

The American Civil War Ends at Appomattox Court House (1865) The first major engagement of the US Civil War was the First Battle of Bull Run, fought in 1861 partly on the farm of Wilmer McLean in Manassas, Virginia. A few years later, McLean moved to Appomattox Court House, a town which, coincidentally, would soon be the site of the war's effective end. It was there that Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in McLean's parlor. Why did Grant stop Union troops when they began to celebrate the victory? More...

Today's Birthday

Eadweard J. Muybridge (1830) Muybridge was an eccentric photographic innovator who left a vast and varied body of work. He is best known for his pioneering use of multiple still cameras to photograph the stages of motion. Hired by Leland Stanford to answer the question of whether there is a moment during a horse's stride when all four of its hooves are off the ground, he developed a special shutter for his cameras and a method for triggering them sequentially. Why was he acquitted of murdering his wife's lover? More...

Quotation of the Day
I have heard men talk of the blessings of freedom, ... but I wish any wise man would teach me what use to make of it now that I have it. Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

Idiom of the Day
curse (someone or something) under (one's) breath — To say threatening, consternated, or disgruntled remarks (toward someone or something) in a very soft or indistinct voice, such that no one else can hear or understand them clearly. More...

Today's Holiday

Bataan Day (2025) This is a national legal holiday in the Philippines, in commemoration of the disastrous World War II Battle of Bataan in 1942, in which the Philippines fell to the Japanese. It is also known as Araw ng Kagitingan, or Heroes Day. Also remembered on this date are the 37,000 U.S. and Filipino soldiers who were captured, and the thousands who died during the infamous 70-mile "death march" from Mariveles to a Japanese concentration camp inland at San Fernando. Ceremonies are held at Mt. Samat Shrine, the site of side-by-side fighting by Filipino and American troops. More...