Daily Content Archive

Word of the Day
hardihood Definition: (noun) The trait of being willing to undertake things that involve risk or danger. Synonyms: boldness, daring Usage: He could not walk the street with any peace of mind, so conscious was he that the gentle and timid would turn aside to avoid him, and that others would make it a point of hardihood to throw themselves in his way.

Article of the Day

Cartomancy Cartomancy is a form of divination, or fortune-telling, involving playing cards. Cards made their way to Europe in the 14th century, probably from Egypt. By the 15th century, cards with allegorical illustrations, or tarots, began appearing in Europe. Divination using these cards is in evidence as early as 1540, but it appears that the cards themselves were only later assigned specific divinatory meanings. Clubs in cartomancy signify power and are associated with what fiery mythical creature? More...

This Day in History

Galileo Galilei Discovers Three of Jupiter's Four Largest Moons (1610) Jupiter has more than 60 moons. The four largest—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—were the first satellites of a planet other than Earth to be detected. They were discovered by Galileo in 1610, shortly after he invented the telescope, and are therefore known as the Galilean satellites. On January 7, 1610, Galileo observed near Jupiter what he described at the time as "three fixed stars, totally invisible by their smallness." How long did it take Galileo to discover the fourth? More...

Today's Birthday

Zora Neale Hurston (1891) An anthropologist, folklorist, and author, Hurston spent much of her life collecting African-American folktales in the rural South and in other places, such as Haiti, Bermuda, and Honduras. She was a significant figure in the Harlem Renaissance and collaborated with her friend Langston Hughes on the play Mule Bone in 1931. Along with her folklore collections, she also wrote four novels, including the influential Their Eyes Were Watching God. Why did the book inspire controversy? More...

Quotation of the Day
In the bosoms of this people, thus heterogeneously composed, there was burning, kindled at different furnaces, but all furnaces of affliction, one clear, steady flame of liberty. John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)

Idiom of the Day
be looking for trouble — To be doing something or acting in a manner that will very likely result in trouble, difficulty, or danger. More...

Today's Holiday

Distaff Day (2025) After the 12-day Christmas celebration ended on Epiphany, St. Distaff's Day was traditionally the day on which women resumed their chores, symbolized by the distaff, a tool used in spinning flax or wool. It was also called Rock Day—"rock" being another name for the distaff. The "spear side" and the "distaff side" were legal terms used to distinguish the inheritance of male from that of female children, and the distaff eventually became a synonym for the female sex as a whole. Distaff Day was not really a church festival, but it was widely observed at one time in England. More...