Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, March 23, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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buffoon
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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SlashesThe slash ( / )—technically known as a virgule but also called a slant, solidus, or stroke—serves a number of purposes in writing. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Red Imported Fire AntAccidentally introduced into the US in the 1930s from its native S America, the red imported fire ant (RIFA) is an invasive ant species that has since spread to Asia and Australia. These resilient, aggressive pests possess a painful sting and build mounds that can destroy crops. US officials estimate that the ants cause more than $5 billion in damages annually. While RIFA stings are rarely life-threatening to humans, the insects are responsible for at least 80 deaths. What causes them to swarm? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Patrick Henry: "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!" (1775)Henry was an American Revolutionary leader who gained a reputation as a skillful orator. A member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, he delivered his famous speech in defense of liberty to the Virginia Convention in 1775, concluding with the words "Give me liberty or give me death!" The speech is credited with having swung the balance in convincing the assembly to pass a resolution to send Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War. Which future presidents were in the audience during the speech? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Akira Kurosawa (1910)Regarded as one of the world's greatest directors for his ability to combine Japanese aesthetic and cultural elements with a Western sense of action and drama, Kurosawa became an assistant director and scenarist at PCL movie studio in 1936. He wrote and directed his first feature film in 1943 and earned international acclaim for Rashomon in 1950. His later classic films include Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. In 1990, Kurosawa won an Academy Award for what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Faith is believing what you know ain't so.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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bought the farm— Died. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival (2019)Admirers of American playwright Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) gather to celebrate his work at the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival. The five-day event features performances of plays, master classes, literary tours of the city, concerts, a book fair, and poetry and prose readings. The festival closes with a "Stella-Shouting Contest," in which festivalgoers compete to imitate Stanley Kowalski's bellowing cry of "Stella!" as performed by Marlon Brando in the movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: networkburele, burelage - A network of fine lines or dots, as on a postage stamp, is called burele or burelage. More... network - Traceable to the early 16th century, it indicates a web of connections that link objects, institutions, and/or people. More... limbic system - From Latin limbus, "edge," it is the network of the brain involving areas near the edge of the cortex and controls the basic emotions and drives. More... neural, neural network - Neural comes from Greek neuron, "nerve"; neural network can now refer to computer architecture in which processors are connected in a manner suggestive of connections between neurons. More... | |