Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
phlegmatic Definition: (adjective) Having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional. Synonyms: indifferent, cold, heavy, dull, stoical, bovine, apathetic, frigid, lymphatic, listless, impassive, stolid, unfeeling, undemonstrative Usage: No sign of astonishment appeared on Emil's phlegmatic face.

Article of the Day

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is situated along the Don River near its entrance into the Sea of Azov, which has been an area of great commercial and cultural importance since ancient times. It was in essence established in 1749, when a customs house was built on the Don, a major shipping lane connecting northern Russia to the Caucasus. As the most heavily industrialized city of South Russia during the Russian Civil War, it became a bone of contention between what groups? More...

This Day in History

The Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 (1945) A month and a half after Nazi Germany surrendered to the USSR, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin ordered a celebratory parade through Moscow's Red Square. Thousands of troops from different regiments and fronts participated, accompanied by tanks and other military equipment. At one point, war veterans memorably threw down hundreds of Nazi banners at the foot of Lenin's mausoleum. According to legend, Stalin had initially planned to participate in the parade but changed his mind after what accident? More...

Today's Birthday

Saint John of the Cross (1542) Saint John of the Cross was a Spanish mystic, poet, and monastic reformer. A Carmelite monk, he was ordained a priest in 1567. The following year, he joined St. Teresa of Ávila in her effort to restore the Carmelites to their original austerity, cofounding the Discalced Carmelite order. He opened the first Discalced Carmelite monastery in 1569 and was imprisoned in 1577 for causing friction within the order. He escaped and later won high office in the order. What did he write while in prison? More...

Quotation of the Day
I have learnt that I am me, that I can do the things that, as one might put it, me can do, but I cannot do the things that me would like to do. Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

Idiom of the Day
not your father's — Very modern or updated; no longer what an older generation would expect or be used to. More...

Today's Holiday

San Juan Pueblo Feast Day (2024) San Juan Pueblo Feast Day is a day to honor St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the San Juan Pueblo, near Española, New Mexico. The San Juan feast day observation combines Roman Catholic ritual with traditional Indian ceremonies. It begins with a mass, and is followed by an assortment of dances, which usually include Buffalo, Comanche, and Green Corn (harvest) dances. Men beat drums and chant as the dancers, arrayed in long lines and wearing body paint and elaborate costumes with feathers and beads, move slowly and rhythmically to the beat. More...