Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 5, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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discombobulate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Evaluative AdverbsEvaluative adverbs are used by the speaker to comment or give an opinion on something. They modify the entire clause. What are the types of evaluative adjectives? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Speakers' CornerOften a scene of lively debate, a speakers' corner is an area designated for public speech-making. The northeast corner of London's Hyde Park may be the most famous speakers' corner, having hosted such orators as Karl Marx and George Orwell. However, speakers' corners exist—with varying degrees of freedom—around the world, including countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Trinidad and Tobago. One location in the Netherlands, the Spreeksteen of Amsterdam, was created after what notable murder? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 British Airship Crashes near Beauvais (1930)In 1920s Britain, airships were envisioned as a way to make the most remote parts of the British Empire accessible. Two starkly different teams of engineers were employed to create two crafts for passenger travel, one conservative and one more experimental. However, British use of airships effectively ended when the ambitious R101 crashed in France during its maiden overseas voyage, killing 48 people—12 more than the infamous Hindenburg disaster. What was R101's destination? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Chevalier d'Éon (1728)The inspiration for the now-obsolete term "eonism," describing the adoption of female dress and behavior by a male, the Chevalier d'Éon was a French noble, soldier, and spy who lived first as a male and then as a female. His cross-dressing appears to have begun as part of his covert activities, but by the 1770s, rumors reached France that the Chevalier was actually a woman masquerading as a man, and he was ordered to live as a woman thereafter. When was it proven that he was anatomically male? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Diplomacy, n.: The patriotic art of lying for one's country.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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more haste, less speed— Acting too quickly and without due diligence, focus, and attention to detail will result in avoidable mistakes and thus require even more time to complete the task satisfactorily. (The logic of the phrase is essentially "too much haste results in less overall speed.") Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 National Fire Prevention Week (2021)October 9 is the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which killed more than 250 people and destroyed more than 17,000 structures. Every year since 1925, the week in which October 9 falls has been observed nationwide as National Fire Prevention Week. Each year, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) announces a theme for National Fire Prevention Week and sets up programs to educate the public about a particular aspect of fire prevention. For example, one past theme was the importance of keeping smoke detectors in good working order. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: measuredApgar score - A measure of a baby's well-being taking into consideration respiratory effort, skin color, heart rate, muscle tone, and sense of smell (named for American anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar). More... datum line - The horizontal or base line, from which the heights of points are reckoned or measured, as in the plan of a railway, etc. More... scantling - Means "measured or prescribed size" or a "set of standard dimensions." More... military time - Time measured on a 24-hour scale of 0100-2400 hours. More... | |