Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, July 29, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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marque
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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"Wh-" Questions"Wh-" questions (or "question word questions") are questions that seek information by posing a question with a "wh-" question word ("who," "what," "where," "when," "why," and "how"). What kind of answer do these questions seek? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 BacchanaliaNow a term used to describe any drunken revelry, bacchanalia were wild festivals honoring the Greco-Roman god of wine, Bacchus. Introduced around 200 BCE, bacchanalia were originally held in secret 3 times a year and attended only by women. Later, admission was opened to men and celebrations became as frequent as 5 times a month. The notoriety of the festivals led to a Senate decree in 186 BCE prohibiting them except in the event of special approval. What happened to those who defied the decree? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Established (1958)NASA is an agency of the US government charged with aeronautics research and the nation's civilian space program. During its history, it has been responsible for manned trips to the Moon, orbiting observatories, and unmanned programs that explored other planets and interplanetary space. Today, its goals include improving human understanding of the universe and establishing a permanent human presence in space. NASA was created by an act of Congress passed largely in response to what 1957 event? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Alexis de Tocqueville (1805)Tocqueville was a French political scientist, historian, and politician. Born into an aristocratic family with ties to the king, his future in government was jeopardized by a revolution in 1830. To distance himself from the trying political situation at home, he embarked on a government-sanctioned mission to the US. Out of it came his best-known work, Democracy in America—the first analytical study of the strengths and weaknesses of US society. What conclusions did Tocqueville draw in it? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There is no recollection which time does not put an end to, and no pain which death does not remove.Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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bad omen— A sign, either real or imagined, of ill fortune or catastrophe in the future. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Fête des Vignerons (2019)Held only five times during each of the 19th and 20th centuries in Vevey, Switzerland, the Fête des Vignerons is a pageant of music, dance, and song depicting the passage of the seasons in winegrowing country and honoring the most talented workers in the vineyards. It lasts more than two weeks and has a cast of thousands, drawn from the local population. The pageant takes place in an open-air theater, specially constructed each time the festival is held, with Lake Geneva and the mountains beyond as a backdrop. The festival was last held in 1999. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: leavingdrawing room - A shortening of withdrawing room, the room to which the ladies withdrew, leaving the men to smoking and drinking. More... egression - The action of going out or leaving a place. More... bequeath - Etymologically, what you bequeath is what you "say" you will leave someone in your will—but the original sense "say, utter" died out, leaving the legal sense. More... exclaustration - Being expelled from or leaving a religious retreat; it is also the return to secular life by someone who has been released from their religious vows. More... | |