Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, April 6, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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mercantile
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Present Simple TenseThe present simple tense is used when we speak about habits, general facts, and timetables. Does something have to be occurring in the present moment in time for it to be in the present simple tense? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SicilySicily, the strategically located largest island in the Mediterranean, has long been a crossroads of history, a "melting pot" of ancient cultures and peoples. It was colonized by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks starting in the 8th century BCE and in the millennia that followed fell first to the Romans, then successively to the Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, and Arabs, and finally to the Normans. Today, it is an autonomous region of Italy. Who are some of history's most famous Sicilians? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Hostess Twinkies Are Invented (1930)The Twinkie was invented by baker James Dewar, who noticed that the shop's shortcake pans were only used during the strawberry season and otherwise sat idle. His thrifty idea to use the pans during the off-season led to the development of the banana-filled Twinkie snack cake. During a World War II banana shortage, vanilla filling replaced the original banana. Twinkies disappeared from US shelves in 2012 when Hostess declared bankruptcy but returned in 2013. What is the "Twinkie defense"? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 James D. Watson (1928)Watson is an American biologist who, with Francis Crick, researched the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) at Cambridge in the 1950s. Their findings earned them the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Watson later became director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York and served as director of the National Center for Human Genome Research, which undertook the Human Genome Project. What landmark non-fiction book did Watson write in 1968? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Now, I hold it is not decent for a scientific gentTo say another is an ass—at least, to all intent; Nor should the individual who happens to be meant Reply by heaving rocks at him to any great extent. Bret Harte (1836-1902) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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soaked to the bone— Extremely or completely wet, especially through one's clothing. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Founding of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (2022)April 6, 1830, is the day on which Joseph Smith formally established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church) in Fayette, New York. Three years later, the anniversary of the Church's founding was celebrated for the first time. In 1837, a general conference was held to conduct church business and to observe the anniversary. Eventually, the idea of holding an annual conference became an established custom, and it was always scheduled to encompass the April 6 founding date. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tiredlanguescent - If you are becoming tired, you are languescent. More... irk - Originally meant "grow tired"; a possible source is Old Norse yrkja, "work." More... lassate - Means tired or weary. More... late - Comes from Indo-European lad-, "slow, weary," which begat Latin lassus, "tired," before English late, meaning "slow." More... | |