Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, January 31, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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unexceptionable
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Present Perfect Continuous TenseThe present perfect continuous tense is formed by using a form of the auxiliary verb "have" along with "been" and the present participle of the "main" verb. The present perfect continuous is very close in meaning to how we use the present perfect tense. How do they differ? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Iron SightsAn iron sight is a system of aligned markers used to assist the eye in making alignments or directional observations when one is aiming a firearm or crossbow. Unlike scopes, iron sights do not make use of lenses. They are instead typically composed of two component sights: the front sight, which is a post, bead, or ring, and the rear sight, which is either open (a notch) or closed (an aperture). On many firearms, the rear sight is adjustable to account for what factors? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Ham the Chimp Becomes First Hominid Launched into Outer Space (1961)Ham was chosen from 40 chimpanzee flight candidates at New Mexico's Holloman Air Force Base to be the first hominid launched into outer space. He was named after an acronym for the lab that prepared him for his historic mission—the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center—and was trained to do simple tasks. In 1961, he was launched into space in a Project Mercury capsule from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean a short time later. What became of Ham after his space flight? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Franz Schubert (1797)One of the most gifted musicians of the 19th century, Schubert was an Austrian composer who wrote his first of nine symphonies in 1813 at the age of 16. He wrote more than 600 songs, many to the lyrics of German poets, and also composed music for the stage, overtures, choral music, masses, and piano music. He died at 31, having produced more masterpieces by that age than almost any other composer in history. Schubert was buried beside what other famous composer? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Of all lies, art is the least untrue.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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weak in the knees— Unsteady or flustered due to a strong emotional reaction to someone or something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 NASA Day of Remembrance (2019)NASA established the Day of Remembrance to honor those who have died in America's space program. The day focuses on those who died in three NASA space tragedies: the Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967; the Shuttle Challenger disaster of January 28, 1986; and the Shuttle Columbia tragedy of February 1, 2003. The day also remembers NASA employees who died in training and maintenance accidents. NASA observes the day with a roll call of all those who have died; at Cape Canaveral in Florida, a minute of silence is observed at noon. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tidesriver estuary - The mouth of a river that is influenced by the tides. More... ebb - Suggests the receding of something (e.g. tides) that commonly comes and goes. More... riptide - Is actually a current, not a tide. More... canonical hours - The seven canonical hours of the church were called tides, and tide—from an Indo-European root meaning "to divide"—is used with other words to denote a definite interval of time: noontide, Eastertide, eventide, summertide, etc. More... | |