Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, January 29, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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infringement
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adverbs and Degrees of StrengthAdverbs of degree can be mild, medium, strong, or absolute in how they describe the intensity, degree, or extent of the word they modify. Adverbs that are mild, medium, or strong are known as what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Rime of the Ancient MarinerThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem written by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Published in 1798, it represented a shift to modern poetry and heralded the beginning of English Romanticism. The poem opens with a mariner stopping a man on his way to a wedding and recounting to him the supernatural events he experienced during a long sea voyage. As the story progresses, the wedding guest's impatience fades and is replaced by fascination. What events may have inspired the poem? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Queen Victoria Creates the Victoria Cross (1856)Queen Victoria created the Victoria Cross—the highest British military award for valor—on January 29, 1856, in the late stages of the Crimean War. The impetus for a new medal arose during the war—one of the first with modern reporting—as correspondents documented many acts of bravery by British servicemen that went unrewarded. Thus, Victoria instituted her eponymous award for acts of devotion and valor in the presence of the enemy. From what was the Victoria Cross originally made? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860)Chekhov was a Russian short-story writer, dramatist, and physician who earned enduring international acclaim for his stories and plays. His early works were broad humorous sketches and tales published under a pseudonym, written to support himself and his family while he studied for his medical degree in Moscow. His first full-length play, Ivanov, was produced while he was practicing as a doctor. Why was a statue of Chekhov in the town of Tomsk modeled on the perspective of a drunkard? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is true we love life; not because we are wont to live, but because we are wont to love.Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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out of humour— In an irritable, grouchy, or unhappy mood; not feeling well or in good spirits. Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Thomas Paine Day (2022)Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was a propagandist and humanitarian whose influential pamphlet, Common Sense, is credited with persuading the American colonies to declare their independence from Great Britain. On January 29, Paine's birthday, he is honored by members of the Thomas Paine National Historical Association in New Rochelle, New York. They lay a wreath at his monument in the Thomas Paine Memorial Museum, which houses some of his letters and personal effects. The cottage in which Paine lived is only a short walk away. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: materialstaboret - An artist's multi-drawer cabinet table for tools and materials. More... compendium - Latin for "that which is weighed together," it is a complete summary or abridgment or a concise collection of materials—not an all-encompassing or comprehensive work (plural is compendiums or compendia). More... hygroscopic - Describing the ability or tendency of a material to take up moisture readily from the surrounding air or other moist materials. More... molecular gastronomy - The study and application of chemistry, physics, and other scientific principles on cooking processes, preparation, and materials. More... | |