Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, December 22, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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minibar
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Future Perfect Continuous TenseLike the future perfect tense, we use the future perfect continuous tense (also known as the "future perfect progressive tense") to indicate how long something has been happening once a future moment in time is reached. It can also be used in this way to indicate what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The AureusThe aureus, Latin for "golden," was a gold coin of ancient Rome. It initially consisted of about 8 grams of nearly pure gold and was valued at 25 silver denarii. It was regularly issued from the 1st century BCE to the beginning of the 4th century CE, when Constantine replaced it with the solidus to account for runaway inflation: in the 23 years between 301 CE and 324 CE, the relative value of the aureus jumped from about 833 to 4,350 denarii. By 356 CE, one solidus was worth how many denarii? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Environmental Activist Chico Mendes Is Assassinated (1988)Since 1985, swaths of the Amazon region have been cleared for cattle ranching and farming on an unprecedented scale. Mendes, a Brazilian environmental activist and unionist, fought to stop the deforestation. He managed to keep local rancher Darly Alves da Silva from clearing an area designated as a reserve, even facilitating a warrant for da Silva's arrest, but it was never acted upon, and da Silva was implicated in Mendes's 1988 assassination. Where was Mendes killed? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960)A 1980s art star whose rise and fall were rapid, dramatic, and emblematic of the era, Basquiat started out as a street artist before being "discovered" by the art establishment. He created vigorously spontaneous works in paint, collage, and crayon on unprimed canvas that featured crude, angry, rawly powerful figures and graffiti-like text. He died of an overdose at 27, just a few years after meeting with mainstream success and months after the death of what other artist, his friend and mentor? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 One's past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged.Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be the business— To be exceptionally great, excellent, high-quality, or skillful. Primarily heard in UK, Ireland. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Forefathers' Day (2018)Observed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and by various New England societies throughout the country, Forefathers' Day commemorates the landing of the Pilgrims, who arrived in 1620 on the Mayflower and established the second English colony in North America. The Old Colony Club of Plymouth was the first group to observe the anniversary in 1769, and members still celebrate Forefathers' Day on December 22. Wearing top hats and led by a drummer, they march down the main street of Plymouth. After firing a small cannon, they return to their Club for breakfast and toasts to the Pilgrims. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: hintadumbrate - Means "to give a sketchy outline or disclose only in part; hint," and its root is Latin umbra, "shadow." More... allude, refer - To allude is to "mention indirectly, hint at," and to refer is to "mention directly." More... infer, imply - Infer means "to deduce, reason," and imply means "to hint at, suggest." More... inkle, inkling - To inkle is to communicate in an undertone or whisper, to give a hint of something, which gives us inkling. More... | |