Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, November 9, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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smooth-tongued
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Participle Phrases in Initial PositionWhere a participle phrase appears in a sentence changes the way we punctuate it, as does its importance to the meaning of the sentence as a whole. When a participle phrase occurs in the initial position, how is it usually separated from the rest of the sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The GIUK GapThe GIUK gap is a naval warfare bottleneck in the northern Atlantic Ocean between Greenland (G), Iceland (I), and the United Kingdom (UK). Such geographic "chokepoints" are of strategic importance, as they form relatively narrow passages that are more easily patrolled and secured. During the Cold War, the West kept a close eye on Soviet submarine activity through the gap, while the Soviets monitored it for any forces headed their way. What monitoring system did the US develop for this purpose? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Great Lakes Storm Reaches Peak Ferocity (1913)The deadliest and most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the Great Lakes region, the "Big Blow," "Freshwater Fury," or "White Hurricane," as it is variously known, was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that battered parts of the US and Canada for several days in November 1913. Approximately 250 people died in the violent storm—all of them sailors who perished when their ships were wrecked or sunk on the lakes. How tall were the swells that vessels had to contend with during the storm? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Benjamin Banneker (1731)Banneker was a free African American who was largely self-educated in astronomy and mathematics. In 1761, he drew attention by building a wooden clock that kept precise time for some 50 years. He accurately predicted a solar eclipse in 1789 and began publishing annually the Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanac and Ephemeris, sending an early copy to Thomas Jefferson to counter the belief that African Americans were intellectually inferior. How did Jefferson respond? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 When he stepped off the straight and narrow path of his peculiar honesty, it was with an inward assertion of unflinching resolve to fall back again into the monotonous but safe stride of virtue as soon as his little excursion into the wayside quagmires had produced the desired effect.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be little love lost between (two people)— Of two people, to dislike one another very much. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Kristallnacht (2021)Kristallnacht (Crystal Night, or Night of the Broken Glass) gets its name from the shattered glass that littered the streets on November 9, 1938, when the windows of Jewish-owned shops and homes were systematically smashed throughout German and Austrian cities in a frenzy of destruction that resulted in the arrest and deportation of about 30,000 Jews. It marked the beginning of the Nazis' plan to rob the Jews of their possessions and to force them out of their homes and neighborhoods. Today, Jews everywhere observe the anniversary of this infamous event by holding special memorial services. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: shoulderhobo - A style of handbag or purse that is typically large and characterized by a crescent shape, a slouchy posture and a long strap designed to wear over the shoulder. More... lane - A narrow, often bucolic, path that lacks a shoulder or median; it can also be a division of a larger road. More... jowl - The head and shoulders of certain fishes, such as salmon and sturgeon. More... trousseau - The French diminutive of truss or bundle—the thing that tramps or runaways carry tied to a stick over their shoulders. More... | |