Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, January 21, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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solace
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Quotation Marks across Multiple ParagraphsQuotation marks almost always travel as a pair, with a closing quotation mark required anytime an opening quotation mark is used. There is one specific exception to this rule, however, which occurs when quoted text spans multiple paragraphs. When this happens, we put an opening quotation mark at the beginning of each quoted paragraph. Where do we put the closing quotation mark? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Portuguese Bank Note CrisisPerpetrated by Portuguese criminal Alves dos Reis, the Portuguese Bank Note Crisis was one of the largest frauds in history. In 1924, Reis forged a contract that fooled a legitimate print company into printing illegitimate banknotes for him. By the time his scheme was revealed, Reis had introduced into circulation banknotes equivalent to nearly 1% of Portugal's gross domestic product at the time, causing widespread economic and political repercussions. How did he initially cover up his scam? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Kiwanis Club Is Chartered (1915)In 1914, Allen S. Browne and Joseph G. Prance created the Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order Brothers, a networking group for businessmen. Their club was officially chartered one year later with its now famous name "Kiwanis." The club's purpose has changed since then, but its popularity has only grown. Kiwanis Clubs today have both male and female members—roughly 600,000 of them—and focus on community service, sponsoring about 150,000 service projects each year. What does "Kiwanis" mean? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jack Henry Abbott (1944)While imprisoned in the 1970s—for various crimes, including the murder of a fellow inmate—Abbott began a correspondence with author Norman Mailer, hoping to help him write about prison life more authentically. Mailer was so impressed with Abbott's writing that he helped him compile his letters into the acclaimed book In the Belly of the Beast and advocated for Abbott's parole. However, just weeks after his release, Abbott fatally stabbed a man and was rearrested. Why had he done it? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Nature abhors the old, and old age seems the only disease; all others run into this one.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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one card shy of a (full) deck— A pejorative phrase meaning not very intelligent or of questionable mental capacity. This expression can appear in many different forms and variations (e.g., "a few sandwiches short of a picnic," "one brick short of a load.," etc.). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Babin Den (2022)In Bulgaria, the old women who helped deliver babies—much like the modern midwife—were called baba, or grandmother. It was widely believed that the baby received some of the baba's wisdom, and it was customary for the baby's parents to bring the baba flowers on a particular day each year, called Grandmother's Day or Day of the Midwives. Eventually the children grew up, but they would continue to visit their baba each year. Most babies in Bulgaria today are born in hospitals, so the children bring flowers to the doctors and nurses who assisted at their birth. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: monkeysmacaque - Based on Bantu kaku, "monkey," and ma, denoting a plural, translating to "some monkeys." More... monkey business - A transfer of the tricks of monkeys to human behavior. More... barrel of monkeys - Monkeys are usually a source of merriment, so if one had a barrelful of them, one supposes this to be quite hilarious; a group of monkeys is actually called a troop. More... see monkeys - To be overcome by the heat while working. More... | |