Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, December 31, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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layperson
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Predicate NounsNouns that follow linking verbs are known as "predicate nouns" (or sometimes "predicative nouns" or "predicate nominatives"). What do they serve to do? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Tactical MediaTactical media is a modern form of activism that uses mass media to oppose and criticize a target, usually one that occupies a certain position of power, such as a government, politician, or corporation. It is characterized by its use of current technology and short-lived media campaigns and is made possible by the availability of inexpensive technology and by open forms of distribution like the Internet. Who are some of the infamous practitioners of tactical media? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Queen Victoria Chooses to Make Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's Capital (1857)First inhabited by indigenous tribes, the city that became Ottawa was founded as Bytown in 1827 by John By, an engineer in charge of construction of the Rideau Canal linking Lake Ontario and the Ottawa River. In the 1850s, the city was renamed Ottawa—after the Algonquian-speaking Ottawa tribe—when it fell into competition with major cities like Montreal and Toronto to be named capital of the Province of Canada, which comprised modern-day Ontario and Quebec. Why did Queen Victoria choose Ottawa? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutierrez (1930)The subject of the acclaimed 1988 film Stand and Deliver, Escalante was a math teacher who, with his unconventional teaching style, dedication, and complete faith in his students' potential, created a successful advanced placement—or college level—calculus program at a high school in a poor East Los Angeles neighborhood. In 1982, when 18 of his students received perfect or near-perfect scores on a national exam, they were accused of cheating. What happened when 12 retook the test? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 We know what we are, but know not what we may be.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get (one's) thinking cap on— To begin thinking or considering very carefully and seriously (about something), often to solve a problem. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 First Night (2018)First Night originated in Boston as an annual New Year's Eve celebration of the arts. This citywide festival was first held in 1976 to change the drinking and partying that have traditionally marked New Year's Eve celebrations in most American cities into a night of family entertainment. To bring both inner city and suburban communities together, 1,000 artists in Boston offer a wide variety of artistic events and performances at 70 indoor and outdoor sites in Boston's Back Bay, Beacon Hill, South End, downtown, and waterfront areas. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: inkatrament - A synonym for ink. More... calamari - The term for Deep-fried squid comes from Latin calamarius, meaning "pen case"—because of its long tapering shell and its ink; it is also spelled calamary. More... ink - First spelled inke and enke—from Greek enkauston, the purple ink used by Roman emperors. More... | |