Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, May 20, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Present Perfect Continuous TenseThe present perfect continuous tense is formed by using a form of the auxiliary verb "have" along with "been" and the present participle of the "main" verb. The present perfect continuous is very close in meaning to how we use the present perfect tense. How do they differ? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Giant Sea ScorpionsEurypterids are members of an extinct order of arthropods that lived approximately 505 to 245 million years ago. Frequently referred to as giant scorpions, most eurypterids were small, although Pterygotus buffaloenis, a species from the Silurian period, was the largest arthropod ever known, reaching a length of about 10 ft (3 m). Living in brackish waters, some were predators, while others were probably scavengers. Eurypterids were similar in body plan to what modern sea creature? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Levi Strauss Patents Iconic Metal Rivet for Reinforcing Pants Pockets (1873)If you are wearing blue jeans, chances are a version of tailor Jacob Davis's invention is hugging your hips right now. Davis did not invent jeans—that was the more famous Levi Strauss—but he did invent one crucial component: the copper rivets that reinforce the corners of the pockets, now ubiquitous on denim pants. Because Davis did not have the money to file the necessary patent paperwork, he wrote to Strauss—then Davis's fabric supplier—suggesting they apply together. How did Strauss respond? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Emile Berliner (1851)After apprenticing as a printer in Germany, Berliner immigrated to the US and became interested in the new audio technologies of his day. He patented a series of improvements to Alexander Graham Bell's recently invented telephone before turning his attention to the phonograph. In 1888, he introduced the first flat disc recording, a marked improvement over Thomas Edison's recording cylinders for the phonograph and a precursor of the modern record. What were some of Berliner's other inventions? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hit (someone) when (he or she) is down— To criticize, exploit, insult, or otherwise treat badly someone who has already suffered a setback or is in a vulnerable position. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 East Timor Independence Day (2021)On May 20, 2002, about half of a small island in the Lesser Sundra group became the Democratic Republic of East Timor, after being an unwilling and brutalized province of Indonesia for the previous two decades, and under Portuguese rule for hundreds of years before that. Among the approximately 200,000 attendees at the independence ceremony in the capital city of Dili were Bishop Carlos Belo and Jose Ramos Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for their efforts toward building the peaceful independence of this Roman Catholic region within Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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