Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, August 22, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Comparative AdverbsComparative adverbs, like comparative adjectives, are used to describe differences and similarities between two things. Comparative adverbs and comparative adjectives sometimes have the same form. However, even when the forms are the same, how can we tell the difference between the two? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Atomic Force MicroscopeWith a demonstrated resolution of fractions of a nanometer, the atomic force microscope (AFM) is one of the foremost tools for imaging, measuring, and manipulating matter at the nanoscale. Unlike the electron microscope, which provides a two-dimensional image of a sample, the AFM provides a true 3-D surface profile. Though the term "microscope" suggests the visual study of minute samples, this high-tech device functions in an entirely different manner. How does the AFM gather information? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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.jpg) First Successful Trial Run of a Steamboat (1787)John Fitch was a man plagued by misfortune. His first foundry was a failure and his second was destroyed in the American Revolution. During a short-lived career as a surveyor in the early 1780s, he was captured by Native Americans. His luck finally seemed to turn around in 1786, when he built the first steamboat in the US, and in 1787, when he demonstrated his aptly named Perseverance on the Delaware River for an audience from the Constitutional Convention. Was his good fortune to last? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Denis Papin (1647)Unappreciated in his time, Papin was a French physicist and inventor who significantly advanced the development of steam power. In 1679, he invented a steam digester that was the forerunner of the pressure cooker, in the process demonstrating the influence of atmospheric pressure on boiling points. His observations of his digester then led him to design a steam-driven piston that became the basis for early steam engines. Despite his innovations, he died in relative obscurity. Where is he buried? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Few are qualified to shine in company; but it is in most men's power to be agreeable.Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make a leg— obsolete To make a show of obeisance or fealty by bowing deeply (drawing one's right leg back in the process). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Queenship of Mary (2021)Mary, the mother of Jesus, was identified with the title of "Queen" at least as early as the 13th century. On October 11, 1954, during the Marian year that marked the centenary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Pope Pius XII established the feast of the Queenship of Mary on May 31. After the Second Vatican Council, the feast (classified as an obligatory memorial) was changed to August 22 so that it would follow the Feast of the Assumption on August 15. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: removalbeheadment - The removal of an initial letter of a word to form a new word (e.g. blather becomes lather). More... curtailment - The removal of the last letter of a word to leave another word (e.g. goon becomes goo). More... detail - Comes from French de-, "removal," and tailler, "cut in pieces," and means "to relate or describe minutely." More... water softening - The removal of calcium and magnesium ions from water, or their replacement with sodium, either by chemical reaction or by ion exchange. More... | |