Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, April 17, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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swarthy
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Slash vs. BackslashThe slash must not be confused with a backslash ( \ ), which is used in computer programming but not in written English. When a distinction between the two needs to be made, what is the slash sometimes called? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Sword of Gou JianIn 1965, archeologists excavating ancient tombs in Hubei, China, discovered a bronze sword sheathed tightly in a wooden scabbard. The weapon had been in a wet, underground tomb for over 2,000 years, yet the blade remained untarnished and sharp. Scientists, amazed by the sword's resilience, tested it to determine its chemical composition and found it to be an alloy of six metals. What does the “text of birds and worms” inscribed on the blade tell historians about the artifact? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Ford Mustang Debuts at New York World's Fair (1964)Introduced at a relatively affordable $2,368, the Ford Mustang took the American auto market by storm. The initial sales projection of 100,000 units in the first year was surpassed within months, and a record 418,000 were on the road within the year. That year, the Mustang was featured in the James Bond film Goldfinger and appeared as the pace car at the Indianapolis 500, helping secure its iconic status. The original pony car, the very first Mustang model has what unusual designation? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1916)Bandaranaike's husband became prime minister of Ceylon in 1956 and was assassinated three years later. In the election that followed, Bandaranaike's party was victorious—making her the world's first female prime minister. She headed two coalition governments and served again as prime minister when she was appointed by her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was elected president in 1994. While in office, Bandaranaike promoted a new constitution that changed the country's name to what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Buy an annuity cheap, and make your life interesting to yourself and everybody else that watches the speculation.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a little from column A, a little from column B— Having been formed from two distinct factors, elements, or reasons. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Verrazano Day (2021)Observed in New York state, Verrazano Day commemorates the discovery of New York Harbor by the Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazano on April 17, 1524. With the backing of King Francis I of France, Verrazano sailed his ship to the New World, reaching the Carolina coast in March 1524, and then sailing northward, exploring the eastern coast of North America. He also discovered Block Island and Narragansett Bay in what is now Rhode Island. In naming the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, New York gave Verrazano official recognition. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sequencearithmetic progression - A sequence in which each term is obtained by the addition of a constant number to the preceding term, as 1, 4, 7, 10, 13. More... initialism, alphabetism, acronym - Initialisms (sometimes called alphabetisms) are formed from the initial letters of a string of words and are pronounced as a sequence of letters, e.g. BYOB, USA, DVD. Acronyms are formed from the initial letters or parts of words in a sequence, but have the distinction of being pronounceable words, e.g. RADAR, SCUBA. More... solfeggio, gamut - Solfeggio and gamut are words formed on the sequence of musical notes. More... | |