Word
of the Day
wastrel
Definition: (noun) One who wastes, especially one who wastes money;
an idler or a loafer.
Synonyms: prodigal, profligate
Usage: Despite their best efforts to teach him responsibility, their
son had grown up to be a wastrel who was always asking them to pay
off his debts.
This
Day in History
Nellie Bly Goes Around the World (1890)
Elizabeth Jane Cochran, better known by her pen name, Nellie Bly,
was a pioneer investigative reporter who allowed herself to be committed
to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island in order to expose
the horrific treatment to which patients were subjected. In 1888,
she embarked on a 24,899-mile journey around the world inspired by
the Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days. How long did
the trip take her? More...
Today's
Birthday
Virginia Woolf (1882)
Born in 1882, Virginia Woolf is viewed as one of the most important
female writers of the 20th century. Foremost in the Bloomsbury Group
of writers, she explored issues such as feminism, sexuality, warfare,
and class struggle. Her novels include Mrs. Dalloway, Jacob's Room,
and To the Lighthouse. Following a decline after WWII, Woolf's reputation
was re-established in the 1970s in the wake of Feminist criticism,
when her works inspired a series of ideological debates. More...
Quotation
of the Day
It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason that
it is more difficult to be witty every day than to say pretty things
from time to time.
Honore de Balzac
(1799-1850)