Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 19, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
profligacy
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Joining Coordinate AdjectivesWhen we use multiple adjectives to describe the same noun, we may or may not use commas between them, depending on how the adjectives function together. In general, we do use commas between coordinate adjectives. What are coordinate adjectives? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 French IndochinaThe region that is today home to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam came under French control in the late 1800s as French Indochina. Though occupied by Japan during World War II, the area did not achieve full independence from France until 1954. Soon after independence, the Vietnam War erupted. After World War II, US President Franklin Roosevelt unsuccessfully attempted to arrange for China to acquire the region before France could regain control. What was Chairman Chiang Kai-shek's emphatic response? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Streptomycin Is First Isolated (1943)After coining the word "antibiotic" for bacteria-killing chemicals derived from micro-organisms, American microbiologist Selman A. Waksman, working with Albert Schatz, isolated streptomycin—the fourth antibiotic ever discovered. Waksman won the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery. Streptomycin acts by inhibiting protein synthesis and damaging cell membranes. Produced by soil bacteria, it was the first specific agent effective in the treatment of what disease? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Salimuzzaman Siddiqui (1897)Siddiqui was a leading Pakistani scientist credited with the isolation of unique chemical compounds from various South Asian plants, particularly the neem tree. The extracts of this tree, a broad-leaved evergreen native to India and Myanmar, have been used for centuries in Asia as pesticides, medicines, and health tonics. In the 21st century, knowledge of the neem tree spread to the West, where it has been hailed as a "wonder plant," largely due to the work of Siddiqui, who discovered what else? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
heat wave— A period of time in which the weather is unusually and persistently hot. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Yorktown Day (2023)On October 19, 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington's Allied troops at Yorktown, Virginia. The Battle of Yorktown is widely considered to mark the end of the Revolutionary War. Yorktown Day activities held at the Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown include a commemorative placing of a wreath at the French Monument and the Monument to Alliance and Victory. There are also 18th-century tactical demonstrations, a parade of military and civilian units, and musical presentations by fife and drum units. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: layersply - From Latin plicare, "fold," a thickness or any of the layers of a multilayer material, such as plywood. More... disk - The layers of cartilage and pulp between vertebrae. More... Neapolitan ice cream - Gets its name from its layers resembling the Italian flag. More... delaminate - To separate into layers. More... | |