Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, October 29, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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cardiomegaly
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming a Compound Sentence with a SemicolonCompound sentences are made up of at least two independent clauses expressing closely related ideas of equal or similar importance. When can we join the clauses using a semicolon without a conjunction? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SarinSarin is a colorless and odorless nerve agent estimated to be more than 500 times as toxic as cyanide. A cholinesterase inhibitor, it effectively causes nerve impulses to be continually transmitted, resulting in a loss of control of bodily functions, suffocation, and death. Discovered in 1938 by German scientists attempting to create stronger pesticides, sarin was mass produced by the German military during World War II. Did the Nazis use sarin against Allied targets? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Black Tuesday (1929)In the 1920s, the US stock market expanded rapidly and reached a peak in August 1929, when prices began to decline while speculation increased. On October 24, "Black Thursday," a record 12,894,650 shares were traded. Banks and investment companies bought large blocks of stock to stem the panic, but on October 29, "Black Tuesday," 16 million shares were traded and prices collapsed. Why do some scholars contend that the stock market crash was not the cause of the Great Depression? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Fanny Brice (1891)Brice was an American comedian and singer who built her act on parody and physical humor. A perennial Ziegfeld Follies star after 1910, she attained international fame with her signature torch-song parody, "My Man." Appearing in vaudeville, musicals, dramas, movies, and radio throughout her career, Brice demonstrated that a woman could succeed in entertainment without exploiting her sexuality or making a fool of herself or other women. What Broadway musical was based on her life? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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eureka moment— A moment or instance at which a sudden, revelatory idea, realization, or solution to a problem comes to mind. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Wexford Festival Opera (2019)The Wexford Festival Opera is best known for its staging of obscure or seldom-heard operas from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Held in a small seaport community in the southeastern corner of Ireland since 1951, the festival has based its success on its choice of rare operas and relatively unknown singers, many of whom have later become quite famous. Three operas are staged during the two-week festival in Wexford's Georgian-style Theatre Royal, built in 1832. The festival also features choral and symphonic concerts and a fireworks display. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mailpost road - One with a series of post-houses or stations for post-horses; a road on which mail was carried. More... nixie - Any piece of mail that is unable to be forwarded because it is illegibly or incorrectly addressed. More... post - Latin posita, "placed," gave us Italian posta, "station on a road," and became French poste, "a station for mail"—from the series of stations that fast horsemen traversed to deliver messages, giving us post, as in "mail system." More... blackmail - The "mail" in blackmail is Scottish for "tax, tribute," referring to the tribute demanded by rebel chiefs in return for their protection. More... | |