Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, January 31, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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unexceptionable
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Other Categories of SpeechSpeech is usually divided between two types: direct speech and reported speech. There are also two other sub-categories of speech that we use. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Iron SightsAn iron sight is a system of aligned markers used to assist the eye in making alignments or directional observations when one is aiming a firearm or crossbow. Unlike scopes, iron sights do not make use of lenses. They are instead typically composed of two component sights: the front sight, which is a post, bead, or ring, and the rear sight, which is either open (a notch) or closed (an aperture). On many firearms, the rear sight is adjustable to account for what factors? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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_in_dynamics_test_chamber.jpg) United States Launches Explorer I (1958)Explorer I was the first American satellite. It was launched four months after the first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, was put into orbit by the Soviet Union, beginning the so-called space race. Although it carried a number of instruments, Explorer I was relatively small, weighing just 30 lbs (13 kg). It stopped transmission of data later in 1958, when its batteries died, but remained in orbit for more than 12 years. Where did it make its fiery reentry? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William Charles Lunalilo (1835)The shortest-reigning monarch in Hawaiian history, Lunalilo was unanimously elected by the legislature after the death of Kamehameha V, who had declined to name an heir. Just 13 months later, the similarly heirless Lunalilo died of alcoholism and tuberculosis. His goal of a more democratic Hawaii had earned him the nickname "the People's King," and he was buried in a common cemetery rather than in the royal mausoleum. What was his reward for having composed Hawaii's first national anthem? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Of all lies, art is the least untrue.Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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lucky devil— Someone who has just experienced particularly good fortune, generally of whom the speaker is envious to some degree. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Nauru Independence Day (2022)This island in the Pacific Ocean gained independence from Great Britain on January 31, 1968. It had been governed by Australia. Independence Day is a national holiday in Nauru. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: socketball, socket - On a clothing snap, there is a ball and a socket. More... socket - From Middle English, first as "head of a spear, resembling a plowshare," from an Anglo-Norman French diminutive of French soc, "plowshare." More... acetabulum - The socket of the hip bone, into which the head of the femur fits. More... birn - The socket in a clarinet or other woodwind into which the mouthpiece fits. More... | |