July 8, 2016
Word of the Day
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Definition:
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(noun) A man's full-dress jacket with two long tapering tails at the back. |
| Synonyms: |
morning coat |
| Usage: |
When he decided to wear a swallowtail to his wedding, he endured some playful mockery from his groomsmen. |
Idiom of the Day
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A business, enterprise, or activity that has done well thus far and is expected to continue making a profit.
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Article of the Day
Nikola Tesla: "The Man Who Invented the 20th Century"
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Discuss
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Deemed "the patron saint of modern electricity" by contemporary biographers, Nikola Tesla was an inventor, physicist, and mechanical and electrical engineer best known for his revolutionary contributions to the fields of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla was the holder of myriad patents and is credited by some with the invention of radio technology. What strange behaviors led many to regard Tesla as a "mad scientist"?
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This Day in History
Vasco da Gama Sets Sail on First Direct European Voyage to India (1497)
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In 1497, da Gama began his epochal voyage to India, becoming the first European to journey there directly by sea. With four vessels, he rounded the Cape of Good Hope, passed the easternmost point reached by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, continued up the coast of Africa to Malindi, and sailed across the Indian Ocean to Calicut. His voyage opened up a way for Europe to reach the Indies and marked the beginning of the Portuguese Empire. For what brutal methods was da Gama known during his travels?
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Today's Birthday
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A major figure in the development of experimental psychology in France, Binet founded L'Année Psychologique, the first French journal on psychology, in 1895. He is also known for his research and innovations in measuring reasoning ability. Between 1905 and 1911, he and Théodore Simon developed influential scales for the measurement of the intelligence of children, which, with revisions, came into wide use in schools, industries, and the army. How did the scales work?
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Today's Holiday
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On Friday evenings in July and August, dances and accompanying songs are performed by the 'Ksan, or Gitxsan, people in a longhouse in a village in Hazelton, British Columbia, Canada. The dances are said to go back to pre-history; they were revived in 1958, and the 'Ksan dancers have since performed in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Kansas City, Missouri, and even Australia. Performers must be Git 'Ksan, meaning "People of the 'Ksan" (named after the nearby Skeena River).
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Quote of the Day
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Accidents will occur in the best-regulated families.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
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In the News
Nanoscale Microscopy Technique Allows Scientists to Pinpoint RNA Molecules in the Brain
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Cells contain thousands of messenger RNA molecules, which carry copies of DNA's genetic instructions to the rest of the cell. MIT engineers have now developed a way to visualize these molecules in higher resolution than previously possible in intact ...
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