Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
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Article of the Day

Heshen Heshen was an 18th-century Manchu official who has come to symbolize the corruption of China's Qing dynasty. A favorite of the emperor, he rose from bodyguard to grand councilor and minister of the imperial household in just two years, at which point he took to extorting and embezzling on a grand scale. His associates, whom he had given political appointments, followed his example, thus beginning a century of corruption that led to the dynasty’s downfall. Why did he enjoy the emperor’s favor? More...

This Day in History

First Wal-Mart Store Opens in Rogers, Arkansas (1962) Now the world's largest corporation, the Walmart chain of superstores was founded by Sam Walton, a former US Army Captain with an economics degree. Walton owned and ran a chain of five-and-dime stores in Arkansas before he opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962. In the 50 years since, the company, which sells brand-name goods in high volume at low prices, has flourished. It now has 8,500 stores operating in over a dozen countries. What was the last US state to get a Walmart? More...

Today's Birthday

Hermann Hesse (1877) Hesse was German novelist and poet who wrote about the individual's search for spiritual fulfillment, often through mysticism. His major works include Siddhartha and Steppenwolf. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. At around the time of his death in 1962, his novels began to enjoy a revival of popularity due to their association with some of the themes of the 1960s counterculture movement. What fellow German writers did Hesse help to escape from the Nazis? More...

Quotation of the Day
What they do in heaven we are ignorant of; what they do not do we are told expressly. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Idiom of the Day
be on (one's) best behavior — To be very polite or exercise exceptionally good manners. Primarily heard in US. More...

Today's Holiday

Festival of American Folklife (2019) Since 1967, the Festival of American Folklife has been held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the richness and diversity of American and world cultures, emphasizing folk, tribal, ethnic, and regional traditions in communities throughout the U.S. and abroad. Recent festival programs have included musicians from the former Soviet Union, demonstrations of African-American coil basketry and Italian-American stone-carving, and the performance of a Japanese rice-planting ritual. More...