Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 29, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
catnap
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
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 | |
|---|---|
 DangoA dango is a Japanese dumpling made from rice flour. Three or four of these dumplings are often served on a skewer accompanied with green tea. Savory, sweet, or both, they are flavored with a number of different ingredients, including eggs, green tea, sesame, soy sauce, and the especially popular anko—a red bean paste. The dish is so popular that it even inspired a Japanese proverb—hana yori dango, or "dumplings rather than flowers." What is the message of this proverb? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 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 | |
|---|---|
 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 | |
|---|---|
 From all accounts, the world has been getting worse and worse ever since it was created. All I can say is that it must have been a remarkably delightful place when it was first opened to the public, for it is very pleasant even now.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
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 | |
|---|---|
 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 | |
|---|---|
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... | |