Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, October 4, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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impasse
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Exclamation PointsAn exclamation point or exclamation mark ( ! ) is a punctuation mark commonly used to express strong, intense emotions in declarations. When is an exclamation point in parentheses used in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Military DolphinsSeveral militaries have developed programs that train dolphins to perform a variety of tasks, such as rescuing divers and locating underwater mines. The US Navy's Marine Mammal Program, which played a role in both the Gulf and Iraq Wars, is comprised of approximately 75 dolphins. Rumors abound regarding the use of these mammals, and while the US denies training them to harm humans in any way, it was reported in 2000 that dolphins trained to kill by the Russian Navy had been sold to what country? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant Explosion (1918)On the night of October 4, 1918, an explosion rocked the T.A. Gillespie Company's ammunition plant in Sayreville, New Jersey, one of the largest such plants in the world at the time. The blast triggered a series of explosions, which continued for three days, killing 100 people. Sayreville and nearby South Amboy and Perth Amboy were evacuated, displacing about 62,000 people who thus became more vulnerable to the catastrophic flu epidemic of 1918. What remnant of the accident was found in 2007? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Charlton Heston (1923?)An iconic Hollywood leading man and six-term president of the Screen Actors Guild, Heston distinguished himself as an actor playing larger-than-life heroes in films like The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes, El Cid, and Ben-Hur. The strapping performer also used his sonorous voice to speak out against racism and other political issues of his day. A staunch opponent of gun control, he made what phrase famous at a 2000 National Rifle Association convention? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Even in a minute instance, it is best to look first to the main tendencies of Nature. A particular flower may not be dead in early winter, but the flowers are dying; a particular pebble may never be wetted with the tide, but the tide is coming in.Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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mixed emotions— Positive and negative emotions that are experienced simultaneously and are often in conflict with one another. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Lesotho Independence Day (2021)Formerly Basutoland, the Kingdom of Lesotho was formally granted its independence from Great Britain on this day in 1966. It had been a British colony since the 1860s. Before the flag-changing ceremonies at midnight to symbolize Lesotho's new autonomy, a colorful procession took place as King Moshoeshoe II (b. 1938) paraded in full regalia leading 100 chiefs into the capital city of Maseru. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: uniformman of the cloth - Originally applied to anyone who wore a uniform or livery for work. More... mufti - Civilian clothes worn by a person who usually wears a uniform. More... uniform - Something that is uniform has literally only "one form," from Latin unus, "one," and forma, "form." More... doughboy - The small round doughnuts served to sailors in the 19th century were called doughboys—and they resembled the round buttons on the sailors' uniforms—so the sailors came to be known as this. More... | |