Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, October 7, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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diagnostician
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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AdverbialsSingle-word adverbs, adverbial phrases, and adverbial clauses are sometimes grouped together under the umbrella term "adverbials," which simply means any word or group of words used as an adverb in a sentence. However, because the term is so broad in meaning, it is very common to refer to any adverbial element with what term? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 EscapologyClassically, escapology is the art of escaping from rope bindings. It has since evolved to include escapes from a variety of restraints, including straightjackets, cages, chains, and prisons. In the early 1900s, Harry Houdini, a master escapologist, began performing his "Chinese Water Torture Cell" act. The escape required a bound Houdini to hold his breath for more than three minutes while freeing himself from a locked, water-filled glass tank. Illusionists before Houdini had relied on what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 William II Becomes King of the Netherlands (1840)William served in the Peninsular War, was wounded at Waterloo, and led the Dutch army in the Belgian revolution after his father failed to approve his conciliation efforts. Called to the throne upon his father's abdication in 1840, William was immediately confronted with a financial crisis, which was solved by raising a "voluntary loan" among the people. A conservative leader, he resisted constitutional revision until the revolutionary spirit of 1848 induced him to grant what desired reforms? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Caesar Rodney (1728)Rodney was a key American Revolutionary leader. As a member of the Continental Congress, when he heard of the deadlock on the vote for independence, he rode 80 miles through a thunderstorm to arrive in Philadelphia "in his boots and spurs" on July 2, 1776—just in time to cast the decisive vote in favor of independence. The wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved two days later, and Rodney became a signatory on August 2. Soon after, he was elected president of what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Nobody loves life like an old man.Sophocles (496 BC-406 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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dead last— In last place, especially by a wide margin, as for a race or other competition. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 World Space Week (2019)In 1999 the United Nations designated October 4 through October 10 as World Space Week. The week celebrates the contributions that space science and technology have made to improving life on Earth. October 4 was chosen to commemorate the former U.S.S.R.'s October 4, 1957, launch of Sputnik, the first manmade satellite in space. October 10 honors the 1967 signing of the U.N. Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: limbsashtanga - Sanskrit for "having eight parts"—referring to the eight limbs or sutras of yoga; ashtanga yoga is also known as power yoga. More... basket case - Originally slang denoting a soldier who had lost all four limbs, thus unable to move independently. More... stretch - Originally meant "lengthening the limbs" or making them stiffer by stretching. More... hurkle, hurple - To hurkle or hurple is to draw one's limbs in and scrunch up the shoulders in reaction to the cold or in a storm. More... | |