Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, June 23, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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extortionate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining GerundsA gerund is the "-ing" form of a verb when it functions grammatically as a noun in a sentence. Gerunds can either stand alone, or they can take a noun (the object of the gerund) and/or modifier(s) to form what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Wayang KulitWayang—a classical form of Indonesian puppet theater—has been an important part of the local culture for centuries, with the puppeteers regarded as repositories of moral and aesthetic values. Hindu narratives featured prominently in early wayang. Later, Islamic restrictions against representations of God or gods led to the development of wayang kulit, a style of wayang in which only the shadows of the puppet figures, projected onto a screen, are seen by the audience. What does kulit mean? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Edgardo Mortara Kidnapped from Jewish Family after Secret Baptism (1858)Mortara, the son of a Jewish couple living in the Papal States, was secretly baptized Catholic as an infant by a panicked servant during an infantile illness. The baptism was deemed valid by the Catholic Church and, because canon law forbade non-Christians from raising Christian children, Pope Pius IX ordered the six-year-old Mortara to be taken to Rome as his ward. Several countries objected to the pope's decision and called for the boy to be returned to his parents. What became of Mortara? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Wilma Glodean Rudolph (1940)Rudolph was the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field in a single Olympic Games. She accomplished this despite having contracted numerous serious illnesses as a child, including polio, which damaged her leg and required her to wear a brace for some time. At the 1960 Games, she won gold in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay. She finished the 100-meter dash in world-record time but was not credited with the record. Why? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is worth a lot of bother to be able to think properly.L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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mission creep— The gradual expansion or widening in scope of a project, action, or task, especially a military operation, beyond its initial goal or objective. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Stonehenge Summer Solstice Ceremony (2018)Stonehenge, the ancient stone circle located in Wiltshire, England, is believed to have been built between about 3050 and 1600 BCE. At the Summer Solstice, when viewed from the center of the monument, the sun rises through the entrance and just between two of the large stones. Today, modern Druids and other Neopagans gather at Stonehenge for Summer Solstice ceremonies. Wearing white robes and scarlet hoods, when the first rays of the rising sun shine on the Altar Stone, they walk in procession around the circle, gathering at the Altar Stone to recite prayers and salute the rising sun. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: wiremuselet - The wire that holds a champagne cork in place. More... reinforced concrete - Has wire or metal bars embedded to increase its tensile strength. More... down to the wire - Alludes to the imaginary wire at the finish line in a horse race. More... under the wire - Meaning "just in time," it is also from horse racing. More... | |
| Match Up | |
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| Mismatch | |
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| In the News | |
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University will pay you $3500 to get the flu and book you a 10-day stay at 'Hotel Influenza'University researchers are hoping that $3,500 will convince enough people to risk possibly suffering through a bout of diarrhea, fever, body aches and other flu symptoms in the name of science. The pitch is for volunteers to willingly expose themselves ... More... | |