Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, April 1, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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malign
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Question MarkQuestion marks ( ? ) are used to identify sentences that ask a question (technically known as "interrogative sentences"). Where do question marks almost always appear in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 US Route 666Renamed US Route 491 in 2003, US Route 666 was originally nicknamed "Devil's Highway" because of the common Christian belief that 666 is the number of the beast. First commissioned in 1926, the route, which runs from New Mexico to Utah, was given its infamous name because it was the sixth spur along the highway's parent US Route 66. Officials changed the name because its signs were among those most frequently stolen. What happened within days of the announcement that US 666 would be renumbered? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 BBC Report: Spaghetti Grows on Trees (1957)An estimated 8 million unsuspecting viewers were watching the BBC's trusted current affairs program Panorama when it aired one of the first televised hoaxes in history, a 3-minute report on the Swiss spaghetti harvest. Afterwards, the station received calls from hundreds of curious viewers, including some who wanted information on cultivating their own spaghetti plants. In the report, the year's abundant spaghetti crop was attributed to a mild winter and the near-elimination of what pest? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sophie Germain (1776)Growing up during the French Revolution, a young Germain turned to her father's library for entertainment and discovered a passion for mathematics. Despite facing opposition due to her gender, the self-taught Germain was eventually able to attend the lectures of the French Academy of Sciences. She corresponded by mail with a number of prominent mentors, including mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, by using a male pseudonym. How did Gauss discover that Germain was a woman? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Envy is ignorance.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get on like a house afire— Of two or more people, to enjoy one another's company very much from the start and become good friends at once. (Used when people are meeting for the first time.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt (2021)The Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt is celebrated by Orthodox Christians on the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, and also on April 1. St. Mary was a sinful, lustful woman who repented and became devout. She is seen as the least worthy person, who through God's mercy became a treasure chosen by God. She is revered as a patron saint of penitent women. On the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, St. Mary of Egypt is the subject of sermons during the Divine Liturgy. On this day, Orthodox priests typically bless dried fruit after the services. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: scrapmammock - A scrap, shred, or piece that is torn or broken off. More... riffraff - Rif/riff, "spoil, strip," and raf, "carry off," combined as rif et raf in French, then went to English as riff and raff, "everything, every scrap," and then riffraff. More... scrip - Can be a scrap of paper with writing on it. More... tatter - A scrap of cloth, from Old Norse totrar, "rags"; often used as tatters. More... | |