Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
Definition: ()

Article of the Day

Holography Holography is the method of producing a three-dimensional image, called a hologram. A hologram is created by first splitting a laser beam. Half the beam is recorded on a plate, unaltered, and the other half is recorded after it is reflected off the object being imaged. On the recording plate, the two systems of light waves reinforce or neutralize one another, creating an interference pattern that, when illuminated by light of the same frequency, produces a hologram. Who invented holography? More...

This Day in History

Israeli Knesset Convenes for the First Time (1949) In 1948, following a failed attempt by the UN to divide Palestine, which had been under British mandate, the nation of Israel proclaimed its independence. The first legislative assembly, or Knesset, convened in February 1949 and succeeded the Assembly of Representatives that had functioned as the Jewish community's parliament during the Mandate era. The prime minister and the president are responsible to the Knesset, whose members are elected by popular vote. What does "knesset" mean in Hebrew? More...

Today's Birthday

Renée Fleming (1959) Fleming is an American soprano who specializes in opera and lieder, a type of German art song intended for soloists. The daughter of two music teachers, Fleming graduated from SUNY Potsdam in 1981 with a degree in music education and went on to study at Eastman School of Music and Juilliard. Her professional debut was in Austria in 1986. She has won numerous awards for her roles in opera and for the classical music she has recorded. What did Fleming do to pay for her studies at Juilliard? More...

Quotation of the Day
I think the first duty of society is justice. Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

Idiom of the Day
make as though — To behave as if; to pretend or make it appear that. More...

Today's Holiday

Valentine's Day (2023) How St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers remains a mystery, but one theory is that the Church used the day in an attempt to Christianize the old Roman Lupercalia, a pagan festival that entailed putting girls' names in a box and letting the boys draw them out. The Church substituted saints' names for girls' names, but, by the 16th century, it was once again girls' names that ended up in the box. Eventually, the custom of sending anonymous cards or messages to those one admired became the accepted way of celebrating St. Valentine's Day. More...