Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, May 15, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
bugaboo
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Semi-Modal Auxiliary VerbsSemi-modal auxiliary verbs, often simply called semi-modal verbs, are verbs that sometimes behave like modal auxiliary verbs. What four verbs are widely considered the standard set of semi-modal verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 TinnitusAffecting as many as 40 million adults in the US, tinnitus is a ringing, roaring, or hissing sound in one or both ears without an external cause. The condition can be either objective or subjective. Objective tinnitus involves sounds that both patient and doctor can hear and is usually caused by turbulent blood flow through malformed vessels, tumors, or rhythmic muscular spasms. Most tinnitus cases, however, are subjective, meaning they involve sounds heard only by the patients. What causes it? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Van Gogh's Portrait of Doctor Gachet Sold for $82.5 Million (1990)In June 1890, shortly before his death, Vincent Van Gogh created two versions of a painting depicting his doctor, Paul Gachet. The paintings, called Portrait of Dr. Gachet, portray the doctor seated beside a foxglove plant, an extract of which is used to treat heart conditions. In 1990, 100 years after it was first painted, Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito purchased one version of the work for the record sum of $82.5 million. Why did he later say he would have the painting burned? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Pierre Curie (1859)Pierre Curie was a chemist who studied crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and the emerging field of radioactivity, first observed by A. H. Becquerel in 1896. Pierre and his wife Marie worked to isolate polonium and radium. Working with a student, Pierre also discovered nuclear energy by identifying the continuous emission of heat from radium particles. In 1903, the Curies shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Becquerel. Three years later, Pierre died in what type of accident? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection; and will, in turn, be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow.Washington Irving (1783-1859) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
take a fit— To become very or unreasonably angry or upset; to have an outburst of rage, frustration, or ill temper. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Fiesta de San Isidro (Metepec, Mexico) (2019)Although indigenous fertility rites were outlawed when Mexico was conquered by the Spaniards and converted to Catholicism, a few pre-Hispanic festivities have survived—often overlaid with Christian meaning. One of these is the Festival of St. Isidore in Metepec, where farmers honor their patron saint around the time of his feast day, May 15. The men dress up as women and accompany their plows and oxen, which have been decorated with flowers, in a procession to the fields. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: healingbalsam - First referred to an aromatic resinous substance with healing or soothing properties. More... healing, curing - Healing is a process in which an organism's health is restored; curing is a method that promotes healing. More... psychiatry - From Greek psykhe, "mind," and iatreia, "healing." More... salve - The main semantic element is "healing," but the etymological meaning is "oily substance." More... | |