Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, May 27, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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blister
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adjective PhrasesAn adjective phrase is an adjective and any additional information linked to it that work together to describe a noun or pronoun in a sentence. How does an adjective phrase differ from an adjectival phrase? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Codex VigilanusCompleted by three monks in 976, the Codex Vigilanus is an illuminated compilation of historical documents from the Visigothic period in Spain. Named after one of its illustrators, Vigila, the codex contains a variety of texts, including the Visigothic code, the canons of the Councils of Toledo, the decrees of several early popes, and various pieces of civil and canon law. It also contains a calendar, historical narratives, and the first mention and representation in the West of what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Le Paradis Massacre (1940)The Le Paradis massacre was a WWII war crime committed by German soldiers under the command of officer Fritz Knöchlein. After becoming isolated from their regiment and running out of ammunition during the Battle of France, a group of British soldiers surrendered to German troops. They were then led across the road, lined up against a wall, and shot. Ninety-seven British troops died. Two survived and hid, but they were captured several days later. What happened to Knöchlein after the war? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok (1837)Hickok was an American frontier marshal, legendary marksman, and gambler. In 1861, while working as a stagecoach driver, he shot and killed outlaw Dave McCanles, earning a reputation as a gunfighter. After serving as a Union spy during the Civil War, he was appointed a US marshal and tamed two Kansas towns. He was shot dead by a drunken stranger while playing poker at a saloon in the town of Deadwood. At the time, he was holding what combination of cards, now known as "dead man's hand"? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 November, n.: The eleventh twelfth of a weariness.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be (as) green as a gooseberry— To be very young, immature, and/or inexperienced. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival (2019)This festival celebrating the Italian tradition of street painting was brought to Santa Barbara, California, in 1987. Some 200 professional and amateur artists create chalk "paintings"—both reproductions of old masters and original designs—on the Old Mission courtyard. In Italy in the 17th century, vagabond chalk artists often painted the Madonna, and they were known as madonnari. Artists still follow the tradition in the Italian village of Grazie di Curtatone, and Santa Barbara's "I Madonnari" is considered the village's sister festival. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: wavecomber, breaker, roller - A long curving wave is a comber, a wave that curls over and dissolves into foam is a breaker, and a long wave moving steadily shoreward is a roller. More... scend - As a noun, it is the surge of a wave or the sea; as a verb, it means to pitch or surge up in a heavy sea. More... undulate - From Latin unda, "wave." More... wave - Meaning "movement of the sea," it seems to be an alteration of the earlier wawe, "wave," from Old English woeg, "motion, wave." More... | |