Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
proclivity Definition: (noun) A natural propensity or inclination; predisposition. Synonyms: leaning, propensity Usage: John has a proclivity for exaggeration, so take everything he says with a grain of salt.

Article of the Day

Mountweazels The 1975 New Columbia Encyclopedia hails Lillian Virginia Mountweazel as a fountain designer and photographer renowned for her photos of rural mailboxes. Her entry notes that she was killed in an explosion while on assignment for Combustibles magazine. Alas, the amusing entry is fictitious. Incorrect articles purposely placed in reference works like dictionaries and encyclopedias have since become known as "Mountweazels." What legitimate purpose do these entries serve? More...

This Day in History

The First Geneva Convention Is Signed (1864) After witnessing firsthand the suffering of thousands of wounded soldiers left without aid on a battlefield in Italy, Jean-Henri Dunant returned to his native Switzerland and began campaigning for the humane treatment of war wounded. This prompted an international conference that resulted in the First Geneva Convention, an international agreement protecting neutral medical personnel and wounded soldiers. The Red Cross was also founded as a direct result of his efforts. What battle inspired him? More...

Today's Birthday

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908) Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer who is considered the father of photojournalism. His works, which were unmanipulated and achieved with simple techniques, are remarkable for their flawless capture of a situation's "decisive moment." He served in World War II and escaped a Nazi prison camp after three years to dig up a camera he had previously buried. He hated being photographed and was fiercely private. He claimed to have confided his secrets in someone he would never meet again. Who? More...

Quotation of the Day
Men come and go as leaves year by year upon the trees. Those of autumn the wind sheds upon the ground, but when spring returns the forest buds forth with fresh vines. Homer (900 BC-800 BC)

Idiom of the Day
put the hammer down — To press down the accelerator (of an automobile) as far as possible; to accelerate to or travel at an automobile's maximum speed. Primarily heard in US. More...

Today's Holiday

Queenship of Mary (2025) Mary, the mother of Jesus, was identified with the title of "Queen" at least as early as the 13th century. On October 11, 1954, during the Marian year that marked the centenary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Pope Pius XII established the feast of the Queenship of Mary on May 31. After the Second Vatican Council, the feast (classified as an obligatory memorial) was changed to August 22 so that it would follow the Feast of the Assumption on August 15. More...