Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, May 12, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pennant
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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The PredicateThe predicate is, essentially, everything in the sentences that follows the subject. It is made up of at least one finite verb. What is a compound predicate? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Giant BeaverCastoroides ohioensis, the giant beaver, was a huge rodent species that lived in N America during the Pleistocene and became extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 10,000 years ago. Fossils of the creature, first found in 1837, indicate that it could grow as large as 8.2 ft (2.5 m) long and weigh up to 220 lb (100 kg). While the teeth of modern beavers are suited for gnawing on wood, the giant beaver's teeth were bigger and broader. Did it construct lodges like modern beavers do? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Luna 5 Crashes on the Moon (1965)Luna 5 was an unmanned Soviet space probe launched for lunar investigation. On May 10, the spacecraft began spinning around its axis due to a problem in a gyroscope in the guidance system unit. A subsequent attempt to fire the main engine failed because of a ground control error, and Luna 5 impacted the lunar surface. Though it failed to soft-land—Luna 9 would do so a year later—Luna 5 was the second Soviet lunar probe to land on the moon. What was the first? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910)Hodgkin developed a passion for chemistry at an early age and went on to become a leader in the field of X-ray crystallography. In 1948, she and her colleagues made the first X-ray photograph of vitamin B12—one of the most complex nonprotein compounds—and eventually determined its atomic arrangement. Her work in determining its structure, as well as that of other biochemical compounds, won her a 1964 Nobel Prize. In 1969, Hodgkin completed a similar three-dimensional analysis of what hormone? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Cruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside of itself,—it only requires opportunity.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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take a breath— To inhale and then exhale. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Boston Pops (2022)Henry Lee Higginson, who established the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1881, believed that in the summer, "concerts of a lighter kind of music" should be presented. People began to refer fondly to these summer concerts as "the Pops," a name which became official in 1900. The Boston Pops tailors its programs around American music and musicians, medleys of popular songs, and familiar movements of classical works. Outside of its official concert season at Symphony Hall, where it performs through May and June, the Pops also tours the United States. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: softenemollient, emolliate - Emollient is from Latin emolliere, "to soften"; to emolliate is to soften or make effeminate. More... macerate - Meaning "to soften," it comes from Greek massein, "knead." More... lenify, lenity - To lenify is to alleviate or soothe an emotion or suffering, from Latin lenire, "soften"; lenity means kindness or gentleness. More... amalgamate - Seems to go back to Greek malagma, "softening." More... | |