Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, February 2, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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fatuous
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Verbs and Indirect ObjectsOnly verbs that express an action being relayed to or done for another person or thing can take indirect objects. What are these verbs called? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 BorobudurBorobudur is a magnificent 9th-century Buddhist shrine located in Java, Indonesia. The ruins resemble a stepped pyramid, and its intricately carved blocks of stone illustrate the life of the Buddha. A seated Buddha may be seen from three platforms above the seven stone terraces that encircle the pyramid. The simple and spacious upper terraces carry 72 bell-shaped shrines, each containing a statue of the Buddha. Hidden for centuries, Borobudur was rediscovered in the 19th century by whom? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Is Signed (1848)A border dispute sparked by the US annexation of Texas in 1845 soon led to all-out war between the two countries. Under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the war, Mexico confirmed US claims to Texas and ceded lands constituting present-day California, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming in exchange for an indemnity of $15 million and US assumption of American claims against Mexico. How did the US's victory precipitate its Civil War? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand (1754)The prototype of the witty, cynical diplomat, Talleyrand is exalted by some as a savior of Europe and damned by others as an opportunist or traitor. Undisputed, however, is the Frenchman's impressive knack for political survival. He held high office from the ancien régime through the Revolution, Napoleon's rise and fall, the Restoration, and the July Monarchy. He scored his greatest diplomatic triumphs representing France at the Congress of Vienna. What was one of his worst diplomatic failures? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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over the hills and far away— To or at some distant, remote point or location. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Groundhog Day (2022)There was a medieval superstition that all hibernating animals came out on Candlemas to check the weather. If they could see their shadows, it meant that winter would go on for another six weeks. The most famous forecaster in the U.S. is Punxsutawney Phil, a legendary groundhog in Pennsylvania believed to be nearly a century old. Thousands of people trek up to Phil's burrow on February 2 and get the news directly from him. Numerous events take place in Punxsutawney surrounding February 2, including parties, live entertainment, and a winter carnival. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: riversMesopotamia - Translates to "area or country between two rivers"—the Tigris and the Euphrates. More... potamology - The science of rivers. More... fluminous, potamic - Two words meaning "pertaining to rivers" are fluminous and potamic. More... watersmeet - A junction of two rivers. More... | |