Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, May 16, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ossify
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Past Perfect Continuous TenseThe past perfect continuous tense is used to describe an action that began and was still in progress in the past before another past action started. How does it differ from the past perfect tense? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 CobaltCobalt is a silver-white, lustrous, hard, brittle metal that is chemically active and rarely occurs uncombined in nature. It is, however, often found in meteoric metal. Cobalt compounds have been used for centuries to impart a rich blue color to glass, glazes, and ceramics. The element has been detected in Egyptian sculpture and Persian jewelry from the third millennium BCE. The word cobalt is derived from the German word for "goblin." Why was the element thus named? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 16 May 1877 Crisis (1877)On May 16, 1877—le Seize Mai—French Republic president Marie MacMahon, a monarchist, attempted to rescue the monarchical cause by dismissing the republican prime minister and replacing him with a monarchist leader and cabinet. When the Chamber of Deputies rejected the new government, MacMahon dissolved parliament and ordered new elections, precipitating a crisis. His efforts spectacularly backfired, however, when the republicans triumphantly returned to government through what means? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Wladziu Valentino Liberace (1919)Liberace began playing piano at the age of 4, and by 16, he had appeared as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He soon began giving concerts in flamboyant costumes with ornate pianos, and though he occasionally performed with symphony orchestras, he built his career primarily upon popular music. Hugely successful, he hosted a television variety series, and, in later years, performed frequently in Las Vegas. During what decades was he said to be the world's highest paid entertainer? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody.Agatha Christie (1890-1976) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
bossyboots— Someone who is bossy or controlling. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 St. Brendan's Day (2019)This is the feast day of St. Brendan, a popular sixth-century Irish saint alleged to be the author of Navigatio Brendani (the story of his journey to a land across the ocean). No one, including St. Brendan, knew where he had been, but a number of legends developed over the centuries. In 1977, Tim Severin built a boat out of leather as described in Navigatio and set out to follow St. Brendan's instructions. He ended up in Newfoundland, giving credence to the theory that St. Brendan reached America 1,000 years before Columbus. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|