Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
disfavor Definition: (verb) Put at a disadvantage; hinder, harm. Synonyms: disadvantage Usage: These laws clearly disfavor the underprivileged and poor because they do not address the problem of child labor.

Article of the Day

The Battle of Alcatraz A failed escape from Alcatraz Island Federal Penitentiary by six inmates in 1946 prompted a massive security response involving the San Francisco Police Department, US Coast Guard, FBI, Air Force, and Marines. Two guards and three prisoners were killed during the two-day confrontation that has come to be known as "The Battle of Alcatraz," and two more prisoners were later executed for their role in the incident. How many years passed before prisoners attempted another escape from Alcatraz? More...

This Day in History

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

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. How did New York City honor Hammerstein following his death in August 1960? More...

Quotation of the Day
A steady hand in governing of military affairs is more requisite than in times of peace, because an error committed in war may, perhaps, prove irremediable. Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Idiom of the Day
(one's) blood runs cold — One becomes seized by an acute and intense sensation of fear, panic, horror, or dread. More...

Today's Holiday
Kiribati Independence Day (2025) This island group in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was known as the Gilbert Islands until its independence from Britain on July 12, 1979. Independence Day is observed as a national holiday. More...