Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, December 7, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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drivel
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Questions Beginning with "wh-" WordsWe often encounter dangling prepositions when a "wh-" word (such as "who" or "what") is used to begin a question. Why? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 WheeliesA wheelie is an acrobatic stunt in which a vehicle's front wheel—or wheels—is lifted off the ground so that the vehicle is momentarily balanced on its rear wheel or wheels. Wheelies can be performed on bicycles or motorcycles, or even in cars. In mountain biking, the move helps racers navigate large obstacles. Due to the stunt's dangerous nature, drivers in a number of countries are prohibited from "popping" wheelies on public roads. What is the world record for the fastest motorcycle wheelie? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 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 | |
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 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 | |
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 So the days pass, and I ask myself sometimes whether one is not hypnotized, as a child by a silver globe, by life, and whether this is living.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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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 | |
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 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 | |
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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... | |
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