Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 22, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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eldritch
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Prepositions of TimeA preposition of time describes when or for how long something occurred or will occur. What are the three most common prepositions of time? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Tsavo Man-EatersLions do not usually hunt humans. For nine months in 1898, however, two lions terrorized construction crews who were building a bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya, repeatedly stalking, attacking, and eating the workers. Some victims were dragged from their tents at night. The workers fled and construction was halted until Lt. Col. John H. Patterson—who was in charge of the bridge project—tracked down the lions and shot them. By Patterson's account, how many people had the lions killed? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Securitas Depot Robbery (2006)In an elaborate heist that took place over the course of several hours, the manager of the Securitas bank depot in Kent, England, was abducted along with his family and forced by a gang of masked, armed men to help steal approximately £53 million. In the process, 14 other staff members at the depot were held captive. It was the largest robbery in British history, and dozens of people would eventually be arrested in connection with it. What had previously been the UK's largest cash robbery? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, AKA Zitkala-Sa (1876)Born to a Sioux mother and white father, Bonnin was raised on a reservation in present-day South Dakota. When she was eight, she was sent to a Quaker missionary school for Native Americans and was profoundly affected by the school's efforts to suppress students' cultural identity and assimilate them into mainstream American culture. As an adult, she dedicated herself to preserving Native American culture through her writing and political activism. What is the meaning of her pen name, Zitkala-Sa? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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quake like a leaf— To tremble violently with fear or nervousness. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Abu Simbel Festival (2022)This festival celebrates the two days of the year on which the light of the rising sun can reach the 180-foot-deep innermost chambers of Abu Simbel, the great temple of Ramesses II, in Egypt. The temple was designed so that only on these two days in February and October does the sun shine on three of the four gods in the sanctuary: Amen-Re, Ramses, and Re-Horakhty. It is thought that there must have been ritual celebrations in ancient times on the days when the sun penetrated the sanctuary. Today, television covers the event, and people gather to see the sunrise and to meditate. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: losingidiot strings - Refers to the strings that attach mittens to prevent a child from losing one. More... in hock - Can be traced to the card game faro, in which the last card in the box was called the hocketty card; when a player bet on a card that ended up in hock, he was at a disadvantage and was himself in hock and at risk of losing his bets. More... jeopardy - Comes from French ieu parti, "(evenly) divided game" (from Latin jocus partitus, "divided game"), referring originally to chess, in which the chances of winning and losing are balanced. More... pain - Originally meant punishment for a crime or offense—sometimes by losing one's head. More... | |