Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, August 1, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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canorous
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Reciprocal PronounsReciprocal pronouns are used to refer to two or more people who are or were the subject of the same verb, with all parties receiving the action in the same way. What are the two reciprocal pronouns in English? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 NemesisIn 1984, paleontologists David Raup and Jack Sepkoski posited that mass extinction events are cyclical, happening about every 26 million years, and are often caused by large impact events—such as the asteroid that may have led to the end of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Some astronomers sought to explain the theory with Nemesis, a hypothetical companion star to the Sun about 1.5 light-years away. According to the hypothesis, how was Nemesis responsible for these extinction events? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 University of Texas Massacre (1966)On August 1, 1966, University of Texas student and former Marine Charles Whitman stabbed his mother and wife to death. He then took an array of firearms to his university's 307-foot (94-m) clock tower. There, he shot and killed more than a dozen people and wounded at least 30 others before police killed him. In his writings, Whitman expressed regret and confusion over his actions and asked that an autopsy be performed to determine what had caused his behavior. What did the autopsy find? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Maria Mitchell (1818)The daughter of an amateur astronomer, Mitchell spent her formative years learning to observe the heavens. When she was 29, she discovered a comet. For her achievement, she was awarded a gold medal by the king of Denmark. Her reputation as an astronomer thus secured, she soon became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and, thereafter, to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. To which of America's Founding Fathers was Mitchell distantly related? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If you would taste love, drink of the pure stream that youth pours out at your feet. Do not wait till it has become a muddy river before you stoop to catch its waves.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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lose (one's) spirit— To lose one's vigor, energy, hope, or resolve; to become resigned or complacent. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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.svg.png) Swiss National Day (2021)This nationwide celebration of the Swiss Confederation is observed with torchlight processions, fireworks, shooting contests, and folkloric events. The day commemorates the occasion in 1291 when representatives of the three original cantons of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden met on the Rutli meadow and swore an oath of alliance and mutual defense to lay the foundations of the Confederation. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: remembermoment - To have a moment is to suddenly forget where you are and what's going on; it is also called a bristlecone or a senior moment. More... absence of mind - The failure to remember what one is doing. More... brain cloud - The temporary inability to think properly, or to remember something. More... souvenir - Literally French for "remember," from Latin subvenire, "occur to the mind." More... | |