Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, June 21, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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confute
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Negative Adverbs Meaning "Almost Not"Some negative adverbs (such as "hardly" and "barely") mean "almost not." Where are they placed in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The DreamachineDeveloped in the early 1960s primarily by British artist Brion Gysin, the Dreamachine is a device designed to create visual hallucinations when viewed through closed eyelids. It is made of a light bulb suspended inside a perforated cylinder mounted on a record player. When it revolves, the light is said to flash at the same frequency as brain waves during relaxation, creating an intense visual experience while the viewer's eyes remain closed. Why is it dangerous for about one in 10,000 people? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Japanese Submarine Attacks US Mainland (1942)With the exception of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US was able to largely avoid fighting WWII on home soil, mainly because of its relative geographical isolation. However, Japan attacked the West Coast of the US several times. In 1942, a Japanese submarine fired at Fort Stevens in Oregon in the first and only attack on a mainland US military installation during the war. The shells damaged phone cables and a baseball backstop, but the fort's gunners were ordered not to return fire. Why? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Mary Therese McCarthy (1912)McCarthy began her storied writing career as a drama critic for the Partisan Review in the 1930s, gaining a reputation for wit, intellect, and acerbity—qualities that are evident in her later works of satirical fiction as well as in her personal life. She engaged other authors in public feuds and repeatedly took contentious literary and political stands. Author Lillian Hellman filed a multimillion-dollar libel suit against McCarthy after she made what comment about Hellman's writing? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Although the Devil be the father of lies, he seems, like other great inventors, to have lost much of his reputation by the continual improvements that have been made upon him.Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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high profile— A presence or stance that is deliberately conspicuous and prominent socially. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 U.S. Open Championship (Golf) (2020)The U.S. Open is the oldest golf tournament in North America, first held in 1895. More than 6,000 professional and amateur golfers vie for only 156 available places. Unlike the Masters, which is an invitational tournament, the U.S. Open is for anyone good enough to survive the qualifying rounds. Rather than being played on the same course each year, its location changes, traditionally played on the nation's best courses. The tournament itself takes four days. There is a qualifying round followed by three days of 18 holes each, for a total of 72 holes. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: stretchingaforcing - The term for stretching the amount of a dish to accommodate more people. More... extend, extent - Are based on Latin pandere, "stretch." More... oscitancy, pandiculation - Oscitancy is the act of yawning; pandiculation is an all-over stretching and yawning, as upon waking, from Latin pandere. More... racking one's brain - Figuratively, it means stretching, and is derived from the Tower of London's torture method. More... | |