Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, June 30, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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rancor
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Viewpoint AdverbsViewpoint adverbs are used to indicate whose point of view we are expressing, or to specify what aspect of something we are talking about. What do they modify in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Vieques, Puerto RicoVieques is an island-municipality of Puerto Rico, located east of the Puerto Rican mainland. Most of Vieques was within US military installations from the 1940s. The facilities included a live-ammunition training area for the US navy, a use that was the subject of protests by many Puerto Ricans. In 2001 the federal government announced that it would halt all military exercises on the island by May, 2003. The former installations are now being converted to what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Charles Julius Guiteau, Assassin of US President James A. Garfield, Hanged (1882)At the deadlocked 1880 Republican national convention, Garfield was nominated as a compromise candidate for president, with Chester A. Arthur chosen for vice president to appease the "Stalwart" faction of the party. However, after Garfield became president, he passed over the Stalwarts in his appointments, creating a bitter rivalry. Guiteau, who unreasonably expected to be offered a diplomatic post, shot Garfield and said, "I am a Stalwart and Arthur is president now!" When did Garfield die? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Robert Ballard (1942)Ballard is an American oceanographer and marine geologist. While working at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Research Institution, he pioneered the use of deep-diving submersibles, took part in the first manned exploration of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and discovered warm water springs and the unusual animal communities that grow up around them in the Galápagos Rift. He is best known for his dramatic discovery of the wreck of the Titanic in 1985. What other notable wrecks has Ballard located? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It's extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it's just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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fine print— The details of a contract or other document that are important but easily overlooked (often due to very small size of the text.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Gioco del Ponte (2019)The Gioco del Ponte, or "Battle for the Bridge," in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, goes back to the 13th century. Following a medieval procession, two teams in full medieval costume take part in a traditional competition which involves a reversal of the usual tug-of-war: about 20 or 30 men from each team line up behind a mechanism on rails and push. The first team to make a "goal" on the opposing side wins; the winner is determined by the best of six matches, or a draw match if both teams win three. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: nakedgymnasium - A school where Greek youths were given athletic training while naked (gymnos). More... hare, rabbit, jackrabbit - Hares live in the open and bear young that have fur at birth, while rabbits live in burrows and bear young that are naked at birth; jackrabbits are hares, not rabbits. More... stark naked - A corruption of start naked, from Anglo-Saxon steort, "tail" —as it described being naked to the tail. More... stag - To go in stag meant to "go naked," which influenced the later "stag party." More... | |