Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, April 2, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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moonshine
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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The Anticipatory "It"There are a number of other situations where "it" can be used as a dummy pronoun, without pertaining to weather, distance, or time. What is the anticipatory "it"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 AutogyrosAn autogyro is a type of aircraft characterized by a free-spinning horizontal rotor that turns due to passage of air upward through the blades. Whereas a helicopter achieves lift with powered rotor blades that push air downward, an autogyro's rotor is driven by aerodynamic forces alone. Invented by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva and first flown in 1923, the autogyro gained popularity before it was eclipsed by the more practical helicopter. What is the top speed reached by an autogyro? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 "Teflon Don" Hit with Charges that Finally Stick (1992)For years, John "the Teflon Don" Gotti, the dapper NYC boss of the Gambino crime family, got away with murder—literally. Criminal charges slid off him time after time thanks to his long reach, which extended to witnesses and jurors alike. But Gotti's "luck" ran out in 1992. After a nearly two-month trial, he was convicted of racketeering and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The FBI had finally gotten its man. How had prosecutors managed to get the charges to stick? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Max Ernst (1891)Having served in World War I, German-born French painter and sculptor Max Ernst at first gravitated toward the Dada movement, but the former student of psychology and philosophy eventually became one of the founders of surrealism. Apart from the medium of collage, for which he is well known, Ernst developed other devices to express his fantastic vision, like frottage, in which a drawing tool is rubbed over paper laid on a textured surface, and grattage, a technique consisting of what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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not get a wink of sleep— To not get any sleep. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Pascua Florida Day (2022)Although no one knows for certain the date on which Ponce de León landed at Florida in 1513, it is widely believed that he first stepped ashore on April 2. He named the land Pascua Florida because it was Eastertime. Pascua is a Spanish word meaning "Easter," and Florida means "flowering" or "full of flowers." The Florida state legislature designated April 2 Florida State Day in 1953. The week ending on April 2 is known as Pascua Florida Week, a time when people are encouraged to attend special programs devoted to the area's discovery and history. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: lapis lazuliazure stone - Another name for the lapis lazuli. More... lapis lazuli - A sky-blue semiprecious stone, it is pronounced lap-us-LAY-zuh-lee. More... sapphire - From Greek sappheiros, "lapis lazuli" or "blue stone." More... ultramarine - First a blue pigment made from lapis lazuli, imported from Asia by sea, so, in Latin, it was ultramarinus, "beyond the seas." More... | |