Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, April 14, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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gallimaufry
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Reciprocal PronounsReciprocal pronouns are used to refer to two or more people who are or were the subject of the same verb, with all parties receiving the action in the same way. What are the two reciprocal pronouns in English? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Apgar ScoreThe Apgar Score is a system of evaluating a newborn's physical condition, generally done at one and five minutes after birth, where a value from 0 to 2 is assigned to each of five criteria: heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, response to stimuli, and skin color. The values are summed up and the resulting score ranges from 0 to 10. Scores below 3 are generally regarded as critically low, with 4 to 7 fairly low, and over 7 generally normal. What does the acronym APGAR stand for? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Donner Party Sets Out on Ill-Fated Journey from Illinois to California (1846)The Donner Party was a group of families from Illinois and Iowa that set out for California following a little-used, supposedly shorter, route across Utah. The shortcut only tired and delayed the party, and while recovering at what is now Donner Lake in the Sierra Nevada, the group was trapped by early snow. Many died, several while trying to get help; some reportedly resorted to cannibalism. Rescuers reached the survivors in February 1847. How many of the 87 pioneers survived the ordeal? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Abraham Ortelius (1527)Ortelius was a Flemish geographer and cartographer who, while traveling with his contemporary Gerardus Mercator, was inspired to compile the first modern world atlas. The first edition of Theatrum orbis terrarium, issued in 1570, contained 53 maps compiled, in part, from the maps of 87 cartographers. A leading member of the 16th-century Flemish school of geography, Ortelius is thought to have been the first to posit what theory about the positioning of the continents? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Look now how mortals are blaming the gods, for they say that evils come from us, but in fact they themselves have woes beyond their share because of their own follies.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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catch some shuteye— To sleep. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Bisket Jatra (2017)The festival of the new year in Nepal is celebrated with exchanges of greetings and in some areas with ritual bathing. The most important celebration is Bisket Jatra, which means the "festival after the death of the serpent." In Bhaktapur, the new year is celebrated by parading images of gods in chariots. The main attraction of the festival is the erection of a ceremonial pole—a lingam or phallic symbol. This is a peeled tree trunk as much as 80 feet in length that is erected using bamboo and heavy ropes while crowds watch. On New Year's Day, the pole is torn down. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: shipsnauscopy - The ability to sight land or ships at a distance. More... spring a leak - First referred to ships, describing the way the timbers sprang out of position and let in water. More... square meal - May derive from the square platters used for serving meals on ships. More... longshoremen - When sailors passed goods from the ships to men along the shore, those men came to be called longshoremen. More... | |