Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 19, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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hillock
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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The Proper Order for Adverbs of TimeRemember, adverbs of time can be used to describe three different aspects: duration, frequency, and certain points in time (when). If we are using multiple adverbs of time in the same sentence, and if there is no special emphasis given to one aspect over another, in what order do they generally appear? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Hypatia of AlexandriaHypatia was an Alexandrian Neoplatonic philosopher and mathematician renowned for her learning, eloquence, and beauty. She became head of Alexandria's Platonist school in about 400 CE, lecturing there on mathematics and philosophy. Several works are attributed to her by later sources, including commentaries on Ptolemy's works, but none have survived. Her murder, the subject of many conspiracy theories, was a brutal event. How did religion factor into Hypatia's lynching? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Streptomycin Is First Isolated (1943)After coining the word "antibiotic" for bacteria-killing chemicals derived from micro-organisms, American microbiologist Selman A. Waksman, working with Albert Schatz, isolated streptomycin—the fourth antibiotic ever discovered. Waksman won the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery. Streptomycin acts by inhibiting protein synthesis and damaging cell membranes. Produced by soil bacteria, it was the first specific agent effective in the treatment of what disease? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Salimuzzaman Siddiqui (1897)Siddiqui was a leading Pakistani scientist credited with the isolation of unique chemical compounds from various South Asian plants, particularly the neem tree. The extracts of this tree, a broad-leaved evergreen native to India and Myanmar, have been used for centuries in Asia as pesticides, medicines, and health tonics. In the 21st century, knowledge of the neem tree spread to the West, where it has been hailed as a "wonder plant," largely due to the work of Siddiqui, who discovered what else? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in donkeys— In an exceptionally long period of time. The phrase likely originated as the rhyming slang, shortened to simply "donkeys," of "donkey's ears" —where "ears" rhymes with "years" and alludes to the length of a donkey's ears. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival (2019)This festival, highlighted by a Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off, has been held since 1971 in Half Moon Bay, California. The weigh-off winner gets $5 per pound for the heaviest pumpkin; winning pumpkins have weighed in excess of 900 pounds. Other festival features are a Great Pumpkin Parade, arts and crafts, food concessions selling pumpkin bread, pumpkin crepes, pumpkin ice cream, and pumpkin strudel, and entertainment that includes live music, puppet shows, magicians, jugglers, clowns, and professional pumpkin carvers. There are competitions in pumpkin carving and pie eating. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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