Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, April 15, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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sobriquet
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Action VerbsThere are many different categories of verbs that describe different kinds of actions or states of being. Action verbs describe an active process that results in an effect. What are these verbs also known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Weightless Wonders"Vomit Comet" is a nickname for any airplane that briefly provides passengers with a nearly weightless environment by following a parabolic vertical flight path. The aircraft mimics the trajectory of an object in free-fall and therefore does not exert any g-force on its contents. As a result, passengers have zero apparent weight relative to the aircraft. According to the director of the Reduced Gravity Research Program, what percentage of passengers on zero-g flights becomes violently ill? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Battle of Formigny (1450)One of the first battles in which cannons played a pivotal, if not decisive, role, the Battle of Formigny was a major French victory toward the end of the Hundred Years' War. The English were dealt a significant blow—thousands of troops were killed, injured, or captured—and, as there were no other significant English forces in Normandy, the entire region quickly fell to the French. The battle had raged for several hours before the tides turned in favor of the French. What brought this about? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Bessie Smith (1894)When Smith was just a teen, she became the protégée of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, one of the earliest blues singers. After making recordings, she quickly became the favorite singer of the jazz public. The power and somber beauty of her voice, coupled with songs representing every variety of the blues, earned her the title "Empress of the Blues." Numerous critics have regarded her as the greatest of all jazz artists, and her fame increased enormously after her death in what tragic accident? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 What they do in heaven we are ignorant of; what they do not do we are told expressly.Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hothead— A person with an excitable, fiery, or impetuous temper or disposition; one who is quick to get angry or act rashly. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Jackie Robinson Day (2021)Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated throughout Major League Baseball (MLB) in honor of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play professional baseball in the MLB. On April 15, 1947, Robinson played his first professional game for the Brooklyn Dodgers. To commemorate Robinson's achievements, activities are planned each year at all MLB stadiums on April 15th. Home teams coordinate activities for the tribute, which may include pre-game award presentations, special guests throwing the first pitch, prizes for fans, and appearances by other legendary baseball stars. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: recognizerecognition mark - A distinctive one that makes an animal or bird easy to recognize by others of the same species. More... cognizance - Latin gnoscene, "know," begat cognoscere, "get to know; recognize," and it moved through French connoissance to English to become cognizance. More... sentence sense - The ability to recognize a grammatically complete sentence. More... appreciate, recognize, understand - The use of "appreciate" should involve valuing something or understanding it sympathetically; when there is no value or sympathy, use "recognize" or "understand"; appreciate first meant "set at a price; appraised." More... | |