Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, December 14, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pellucid
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Indefinite Pronouns: People vs. ThingsBoth people and things can be identified in a sentence by an indefinite pronoun. Indefinite pronouns like "anyone," "everybody," "no one," and "someone" are only used to refer to people. What are some indefinite pronouns that are only used to refer to things? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 KÀ and the Circus of the SunWhen two former street performers founded Cirque du Soleil in 1984, they began a movement that would revolutionize the concept of the modern circus. KÀ, Cirque's fourth resident show in Las Vegas, premiered in 2004 at the MGM Grand. The unique, Vegas style production is a multimedia, acrobatic, orchestral undertaking about conflict, love, and self discovery. KÀ lacks a traditional stage and is instead performed on floating platforms that rotate and move. What is the KÀ encountered in this show? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Dayton Agreement Is Signed in Paris, France (1995)The Dayton Agreement was a peace agreement that put an end to the Bosnian War that began in 1992. The accord was the result of a meeting between Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian leaders under US auspices in Dayton, Ohio. It called for a Bosnian republic with a central government and two semiautonomous regions roughly equal in size—one dominated by Serbs and the other by Bosniaks and Croats in federation. Later signed in Paris, the accord also provided for the dispatch of what military force? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Daniel De Leon (1852)A newspaper editor, De Leon joined the Socialist Labor Party in the US in 1890 and soon became one of its leaders. He led a radical faction that seceded from the Knights of Labor in 1895 and formed the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance (STLA). The STLA was later absorbed by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which he helped found in 1905. After being refused a seat at a 1908 IWW convention by extremists who favored violent tactics over political action, he founded what organization? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 In museums and palaces we are alternate radicals and conservatives.Henry James (1843-1916) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go out with a bang— To finish or cease doing something in a spectacular, great, or exciting manner. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Third Night of Hanukkah (2017)Hanukkah commemorates the successful rebellion of the Jews against the Syrians in the Maccabean War of 162 BCE, but the military associations are played down. What is really being celebrated is the survival of Judaism. Jewish families today celebrate this holiday by lighting a special Hanukkah menorah, a candelabrum with holders for eight candles, one for each day of celebration, plus a ninth, the shammash, used to light the others. A special prayer is recited during the lighting, and while the candles burn it is a time for songs and games, including the four-sided toy called the dreidel. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: streetsbed push - A fundraising event, sometimes run by hospitals, in which a wheeled bed is pushed through the streets to raise awareness of the campaign. More... on the wagon - Before paved roads, horse-drawn water wagons sprayed the streets to settle the dust, and anyone who had sworn abstinence from alcohol was said to have "climbed aboard the water wagon," later shortened to "on the wagon." More... juggernaut - Derived from Sanskrit Jagannamacrtha, "lord of the world," a title of Krishna, worshipped at an annual festival by the dragging of his image through the streets in a heavy chariot. More... one-way - Came into English in 1906 in reference to travel tickets, in 1914 in reference to streets, and in 1940 in reference to windows, mirrors, etc. More... | |