Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
providence Definition: (noun) Prudent management; economy. Synonyms: foresight, prudence, economy Usage: Because of Father's providence, we were all able to go to college.

Article of the Day

Argyle Diamond Mine The Argyle mine in Western Australia is one of the world's largest diamond producers by volume, producing more than 750 million carats of rough diamonds since operations began in the 1980s. Most of the diamonds mined there are of relatively low quality. However, it is the primary source of the rare and valuable pink diamond, producing more than 90% of the world's supply, and is also a major source of champagne, cognac, and blue diamonds. What percentage of Argyle's diamonds are gem quality? 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 man's house burns down. The smoking wreckage represents only a ruined home that was dear through years of use and pleasant associations. By and by, as the days and weeks go on, first he misses this, then that, then the other thing. And when he casts about for it he finds that it was in that house. Always it is an essential--there was but one of its kind. It cannot be replaced. It was in that house. It is irrevocably lost... It will be years before the tale of lost essentials is complete, and not till then can he truly know the magnitude of his disaster. Mark Twain (1835-1910)

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

Connecticut Early Music Festival (2024) The term "early music" refers to music from the medieval, renaissance, baroque, and classical periods, up to and including Beethoven and Schubert, performed on period instruments. Since 1983, the residents of southeastern Connecticut have been able to hear early music performed on such unusual instruments as the slide trumpet, sackbut, viola da gamba, and the clavichord. The concerts are held in small rooms or churches so that the subtleties of the instruments can be heard—particularly the Noank Baptist Church in Noank and the Harkness Chapel at Connecticut College in New London. More...