Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, January 12, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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rive
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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NounsNouns are words that indicate a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns can function as the subject or the object of a verb or preposition. Nouns can also follow linking verbs to rename or re-identify the subject of a sentence or clause. These are known as what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The History of FirefightingThe practice of firefighting has come a long way since the Roman Empire, when fire patrols relied on bucket brigades and pumps to extinguish blazes. The first fire engines arrived in Europe in the 17th century. Around this time, insurance companies—motivated by the Great Fire of London—formed private fire brigades, but they protected only the buildings they insured. In the early 18th century, France established the first modern brigades as a fee-based service. Why was the fee soon eliminated? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Dr. James Bedford Becomes First Person to Undergo Cryopreservation (1967)The field of cryonics involves techniques in which cold is applied for a variety of therapeutic goals, including brief local anesthesia, destruction of superficial skin lesions, and preservation of cells, tissue, and organs—or the entire body—in the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. In 1967, Bedford became the first person to have his entire body frozen in perpetuity. Since then, hundreds have undergone the procedure. What celebrities have been frozen? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Edmund Burke (1729)Burke was a British parliamentarian, orator, and political philosopher. Essays he published in the late 1750s gained the attention of Denis Diderot and Immanuel Kant, and he was hired to edit a yearly survey of world affairs. In his many and diverse writings, he left a monumental construction of British political thought that had a profound and long-term influence in England, America, and France. Burke held contrasting opinions on the American and French revolutions. Which did he support? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Thank goodness, we can choose our friends. We have to take our relatives as they are.Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have (got) a knack for (something)— To be exceptionally proficient at (doing) something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (2020)Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan has always been considered a significant manifestation of Jesus' divinity, and has been celebrated on Epiphany by the Orthodox Church since the end of the second century. However, in 1961 the Roman Catholic Church began to celebrate it as a separate feast in its own right. The original date for the feast was January 13, but when the Church calendar was reorganized in 1969, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord was moved to the Sunday following the Epiphany. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: paddlepaddle - An aquatic animal's flipper can also be called a paddle—as can the foot of a duck or the wing of a penguin. More... patrol - Comes from a French word meaning "paddle about in the mud." More... rudder - First meant "paddle" or "oar." More... float - The boards and paddle of a waterwheel or paddlewheel are the floats. More... | |