Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, October 5, 2024)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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quaternary
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using the Present Continuous Tense with "Always"There is a special usage when the adverb "always" is used between "be" and the present participle. Rather than literally meaning that the action always happens (as you might expect), it instead means that that action very often happens. What else does this construction convey? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Electron MicroscopesProducing images of specimens magnified to about 2 million times their natural size—compared to just 2,000 for common light microscopes—electron microscopes use electron beams to resolve the minute structural details present in samples. An integral part of many laboratories, electron microscopes are used by researchers to examine biological materials, such as microorganisms, cells, and medical biopsy samples. Why are samples sometimes coated with gold before they are magnified? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Dr. No, the First James Bond Film, Is Released (1962)In 1953, Ian Fleming published Casino Royale, the first of 12 novels featuring James Bond, the stylish, high-living secret service agent 007, who became one of the most successful heroes of 20th-century fiction. Packed with action, espionage, and sex, all 12 books—including From Russia, with Love, Goldfinger, and Thunderball—became popular films. Although it was not the first Bond book, Dr. No was the first to be adapted for the big screen. Who starred as 007? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Joshua Lockwood Logan III (1908)Logan was an American stage and film director and writer. He studied in Moscow under Constantin Stanislavsky and began to direct and act on Broadway and work on Hollywood films in the 1930s. He served as an intelligence officer in WWII, after which he directed a series of hit plays and musicals, including South Pacific, which he cowrote with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Why, when it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1950, were only Rodgers and Hammerstein initially listed as awardees? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Men become old, but they never become good.Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a little from column A, a little from column B— Having been formed from two distinct factors, elements, or reasons. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 National Fire Prevention Week (2024)October 9 is the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which killed more than 250 people and destroyed more than 17,000 structures. Every year since 1925, the week in which October 9 falls has been observed nationwide as National Fire Prevention Week. Each year, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) announces a theme for National Fire Prevention Week and sets up programs to educate the public about a particular aspect of fire prevention. For example, one past theme was the importance of keeping smoke detectors in good working order. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: slopeescarpment, scarp, palisade(s) - A cliff formation or line of cliffs can be called an escarpment, scarp (from Italian scarpa, "slope"), or palisade(s). More... scree - A mass of small loose stones that form or cover a slope on a mountain. More... katabatic - Skiing is a katabatic sport—moving down a slope or valley. More... | |