Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, November 27, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pigeonhole
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Identifying Indirect ObjectsAn indirect object is the person or thing who receives the direct object of the verb. Where do indirect objects appear in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The 1755 Lisbon EarthquakeOne of the deadliest earthquakes in history struck Lisbon, Portugal, in 1755, killing at least 30,000. The earthquake, followed by a tsunami and raging fires, almost totally destroyed the city, leaving just 15% of its buildings standing. The study of the quake's causes led to the beginnings of seismology. Geologists today estimate that the temblor, with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean, approached magnitude 9 on the moment magnitude scale. How did the quake influence philosophers of the time? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Harvey Milk and George Moscone Are Assassinated (1978)After gaining a following as a leader of San Francisco's gay community, Milk was elected to the city's Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming one of the first openly gay elected officials in US history. In 1978, he and Moscone, the city's mayor, were shot and killed in City Hall by Dan White, a former city supervisor. White's conviction on the less serious charge of voluntary manslaughter sparked riots in the city. What now infamous defense did White's attorneys present at his murder trial? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Chaim Weizmann (1874)A Russian-born chemist, Weizmann became a British subject in 1910, developed a process for creating a synthetic acetone to be used in the manufacture of explosives in 1912, and was director of the British admiralty laboratories for much of WWI. An active Zionist, Weizmann helped negotiate the 1917 Balfour Declaration pronouncing British support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. When the republic of Israel was eventually founded, he was elected its first president. What is the Weizmann organism? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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absorbed in thought— Fully and deeply engrossed in a thought or idea, often to such a degree as to be unaware of or insensitive to the outside world. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Seged (Sigd) (2019)Seged is a religious festival observed only by Ethiopian Jews known as the Beta Israel. The participants wear clean, preferably white, clothes, symbolic of the state of purity in which they have kept themselves for seven days. The priests who lead the procession sing prayers and carry the Orit (the Jewish scriptures in Geez) and other holy books wrapped in colored cloth. Everyone who climbs the hill carries a stone, which is placed on a circular wall marking the holy area where the Orit will be placed. The ceremony includes a commemoration of the dead and readings from the Orit. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: ignoranceagnosy, agnoiology - Agnosy is another word for ignorance and agnoiology is the study of human ignorance. More... ignotism - A mistake due to ignorance. More... nescience, inscience - Nescience and inscience both mean "ignorance." More... sophomoric - Includes the roots soph-, "wise," and moros, "fool"—so the contrast between wisdom and ignorance is built right into the word. More... | |