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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 Maiden Voyage of World's Largest Ocean Liner, RMS Queen Mary 2 (2004)The RMS Queen Mary 2 (QM2) is a Cunard Line ocean liner named after the earlier Cunard liner Queen Mary, which was, in turn, named after Mary of Teck, the Queen Consort of George V. With 15 restaurants and bars, 5 pools, a casino, a ballroom, a theater, and a planetarium, the QM2 is the largest ocean liner in the world, and, at the time of its construction, was the longest, widest, and tallest passenger ship ever built. What ship challenged that distinction in 2006? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Hermann Göring (1893)Göring was one of Hitler's most loyal supporters and held numerous Nazi posts, including interior minister of Prussia, where he established the Gestapo, and head of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force. When the Luftwaffe failed to win the Battle of Britain, Göring semiretired to his country estate, where he displayed the vast art collection he had confiscated from Jews in occupied countries. In 1946, he was condemned to death by hanging at the Nuremberg trials but was never executed. Why? 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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to a turn— For exactly the right amount of time necessary or desired (used almost exclusively in reference to how well meat is cooked). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Saturnalia Roman Festival (2019)Llanwrtyd Wells, which prides itself as the "wacky festival capital of the world," takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to this observance, which is organized to draw tourists as well as relive Roman culture. The festival's gladiator chariot race, for example, accompanies a winter beer festival and features mountain bikes towing barrels instead of proper horse-drawn chariots. This event and others attract attendees dressed in the requisite togas and laurel hats. Festival goers remain in costume for the Saturnalia Ramble, a marked walk through the Welsh countryside along old Roman roads. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: raisincurrant - Developed from Middle English raison of Corauntz, "a raisin of Corinth," from where the fruit came. More... figgy pudding - From the dialect term fig, which meant "raisin." More... frail - Fifty pounds of raisins. More... passulate - To dry grapes to make raisins, from Latin passula, "raisins." More... | |