Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, December 7, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
self-aggrandizement
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Defining Causative VerbsCausative verbs indicate that a person, place, or thing is causing an action or an event to happen. Causative verbs are followed by a noun or pronoun and a non-causative verb in what form? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 The Black Sox ScandalAfter the Chicago White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1919 World Series, eight White Sox players—including Shoeless Joe Jackson—were accused of having taken bribes to throw the series. Five of the accused confessed their guilt to a grand jury, but their signed confessions later disappeared. Though all eight players were acquitted in 1921, they were banned from Major League Baseball for life anyway. In whose possession were the missing confessions eventually found? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Recording Industry Association of American Sues Napster (1999)Shortly after Napster was founded in 1999, the popular file-sharing service was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The trial gave Napster so much publicity that usage of the service increased, despite RIAA's claim that Napster users were breaking the law by downloading copyrighted music for free. Though it was forced by an injunction to shut down its network in July 2001, Napster did not fold. What happened to it? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Willa Sibert Cather (1873)Cather moved with her family to Nebraska at the age of nine, and though she later settled in New York, her prairie upbringing deeply influenced her writing. Her novels, which include O Pioneers!, Death Comes for the Archbishop, and My Ántonia, celebrate the spirit and courage of pioneer life. Her works include several independent heroines of the frontier and have been studied from a feminist perspective. Cather occasionally wore men's clothing and went by what nickname? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.Plato (427 BC-347 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
in its infancy— In the early, nascent period of development or implementation. (Typically of an area of activity, interest, research, etc.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Armenia Earthquake Memorial Day (2020)On December 7, 1988, a severe earthquake struck in Armenia, causing catastrophic damage to the entire country's infrastructure and virtually destroying the cities of Spitak, Leninakan (now Gyumri), Kirovakan (now Vanadzor), and Stepanavan. More than 25,000 people were killed in the disaster, with another 140,000 injured and more than one million left homeless, in a disaster zone that measured about 30,000 square kilometers. That day is now remembered each year as a national holiday, marked across the country with prayer, memorial services, and a moment of silence. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: worrycark - The noun means "solicitude or sympathetic feeling"; the verb means to fret anxiously or to cause distress or worry. More... distrait, distraught - Distrait means "absent-minded as a result of apprehension, worry, etc."—while distraught means "agitated" and "bewildered, distracted." More... ish kabbible - Meaning "I should worry," it is of unknown origin, but is perhaps derived from Yiddish nisht gefidlt, popularized (and perhaps coined) by comedienne Fanny Brice. More... kedogenous - "Brought about by worry or anxiety." More... | |