Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
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Article of the Day

The Book of Martyrs Popularly known as The Book of Martyrs, The Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perilous Dayes was published by English Protestant clergyman John Foxe in the 16th century to praise Protestants martyred during the reign of Catholic monarch Mary I, who earned the nickname "Bloody Mary" for her religious persecutions. Lavishly illustrated, it was widely read and influenced popular opinion about Roman Catholicism for several centuries. How much did the book's first edition cost? More...

This Day in History

Alcock and Brown Embark on First Nonstop Transatlantic Flight (1919) In 1918, the Daily Mail newspaper renewed its £10,000 prize for the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic. The next year, British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown claimed it after completing a treacherous 16-hour flight from Newfoundland to Ireland. Along the way, Brown had to repeatedly climb onto the wings of their biplane to remove ice, and snow filled the open cockpit. Upon reaching Ireland, they attempted to land in what they thought was a field, but it turned out to be what? More...

Today's Birthday

Margaret Bourke-White (1904) One of the original staff photographers at Time, Life, and Fortune magazines, Bourke-White was noted for her coverage of World War II. The first woman photographer to serve with US armed forces, she photographed the liberation of Buchenwald and was the only foreign correspondent in Moscow during the German invasion. Her pictures of the rural American South and her portraits of world leaders are also celebrated. What actress portrayed her in the movie Gandhi? More...

Quotation of the Day
A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Idiom of the Day
great cry and little wool — A great deal of fuss, noise, fanfare, or protestation over something of little or no substance, importance, or relevance. More...

Today's Holiday

Rice-Planting Festival at Osaka (2025) There are many rituals associated with the growing of rice in Japanese farming communities. In many rural celebrations, young women in costume perform rituals including planting seedlings while singing rice-planting songs to the accompaniment of pipes and drums. On June 14 in Osaka, thousands congregate to observe a group of young kimono-clad women plant rice and sing in the sacred fields near the Sumiyoshi Shrine. Working rhythmically to the music, the young women appear to be participating in a dance rather than the hard work of planting. More...