Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, August 9, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
panegyric
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Future Tense (Approximation)Grammatically speaking, there are no future tenses in the English language. There are really only aspects of the future tense. What does that mean? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Lake VostokHundreds of subglacial lakes are hidden under the surface of Antarctica, and Lake Vostok is the largest. Located beneath some 13,000 ft (4,000 m) of ice, Lake Vostok's pristine waters have been sealed off for perhaps more than a million years and may be home to life forms unknown to science. Researchers have spent years trying to drill through the ice to retrieve water samples despite concerns they might contaminate the lake in the process. In May 2005, what was found in the center of the lake? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Nathan Ames Patents His "Revolving Stairs," Now Known as the Escalator (1859)Although no working model of his design was ever built, Ames is credited with patenting the first escalator. His idea for the "revolving stairs" was largely speculative. It was not until the 1890s that the first working escalator—called the "inclined elevator"—was produced, based on another's designs. It was installed among the amusements at New York's Coney Island but did not remain a novelty for long. How did shoppers react when Harrods in London debuted its first escalator in 1898? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Pamela Lyndon "P. L." Travers (1899)Australian-born British actress, journalist, and novelist P. L. Travers is best remembered for her series of fictional children's books about the prim, vain, imperious, acerbic, and mysteriously magical nanny Mary Poppins. The books were a great success, and Disney's award-winning 1964 film adaptation made the author even more famous. Travers worked as an adviser on the film, but in the end she was unhappy with it and never allowed anyone related to the production to adapt her work again. Why? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Being poor is a mere trifle. It is being known to be poor that is the sting.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
lower the bar— To lower the standards of quality that are expected of or required for something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Meyboom (2021)One of the oldest folk traditions in Belgium, Meyboom is an amalgamation of Belgian folklore, patron-saint celebration, and traditional neighborhood rivalry. The event is marked with a procession of giant puppets and the planting of a meyboom (may tree) on the corner of Rue des Sables and Rue du Marais in Brussels. Before the planting, a procession of trumpeters and costumed giants accompanies the tree from the Place des Sablons to its final destination. According to custom, if the meyboom is not planted by 5:00 p.m., the city's good fortune will go to the people of Leuven. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: soldierbombardier - First denoted a soldier in charge of a bombard, an early form of cannon. More... functional shift - The process by which words change parts of speech without the addition of a prefix or suffix, as in soldier on, the verb, being created from soldier, the noun. More... guerrilla, gorilla - Guerrilla is from a Spanish diminutive of guerra, "war," and refers to a soldier of an independent armed resistance force; gorilla is the ape. More... | |