Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, August 22, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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reconnoiter
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Pronouncing Compound NounsIn general, compound nouns are pronounced with the emphasis on the first part of the word. What does this help us to distinguish? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Keystroke LoggingA keystroke logger is a program or device that captures every key struck on a keyboard, thereby creating a record of what has been typed. Software-based keystroke loggers can be installed clandestinely, via a computer virus or Trojan horse, allowing hackers to steal passwords and other confidential information. Some employers use keystroke loggers to track the computer use of employees, while governments use them to spy on suspected criminals. What countermeasures can defeat keystroke loggers? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The First Geneva Convention Is Signed (1864)After witnessing firsthand the suffering of thousands of wounded soldiers left without aid on a battlefield in Italy, Jean-Henri Dunant returned to his native Switzerland and began campaigning for the humane treatment of war wounded. This prompted an international conference that resulted in the First Geneva Convention, an international agreement protecting neutral medical personnel and wounded soldiers. The Red Cross was also founded as a direct result of his efforts. What battle inspired him? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908)Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer who is considered the father of photojournalism. His works, which were unmanipulated and achieved with simple techniques, are remarkable for their flawless capture of a situation's "decisive moment." He served in World War II and escaped a Nazi prison camp after three years to dig up a camera he had previously buried. He hated being photographed and was fiercely private. He claimed to have confided his secrets in someone he would never meet again. Who? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The power to guess the unseen from the seen, to trace the implications of things, to judge the whole piece by the pattern, the condition of feeling life in general so completely that you are well on your way to knowing any particular corner of it—this cluster of gifts may almost be said to constitute experience.Henry James (1843-1916) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hit the big time— To become very famous or successful. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Michigan Renaissance Festival (2020)Visitors who walk through the turreted gates of the annual Renaissance Festival in Holly, Michigan, are made to feel as if they're stepping back into the 16th century. The festival has a permanent, 200-acre site which is set up to resemble a European village. Festival activities include theater, games, and equestrian events as well as displays and demonstrations of Renaissance crafts and cooking. Visitors can try their hand at archery or dueling, sample roasted turkey drumsticks, observe the arts of glassblowing, pewter casting, and blacksmithing. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: perverseawkward - Comes from Old Norse awk, "perverse," and weard, "in the direction of," i.e. "turned back upon itself" or "turned backward." More... crabby, crabbed - Crabby and crabbed derive from a crab's sideways movement and habit of snapping (thought to suggest a perverse or irritable nature). More... peeve - A back-formation from peevish, "perverse, obstinate." More... queer - Comes from the German root quer, "across, oblique, perverse." More... | |