Daily Content Archive

(as of Saturday, December 22, 2018)
Word of the Day

minibar

Definition:(noun) Sideboard with compartments for holding bottles.
Synonyms:cellaret
Usage: Kevin pulled several bottles of wine from his minibar to serve to his guests.
Daily Grammar Lesson

Personal Pronouns and Grammatical Person

Grammatical person refers to the perspectives of the personal pronouns used to identify a person in speech and text—that is, it distinguishes between a speaker, an addressee, and others beyond that. Which of those examples is the second person? More...
Article of the Day

The Aureus

The aureus, Latin for "golden," was a gold coin of ancient Rome. It initially consisted of about 8 grams of nearly pure gold and was valued at 25 silver denarii. It was regularly issued from the 1st century BCE to the beginning of the 4th century CE, when Constantine replaced it with the solidus to account for runaway inflation: in the 23 years between 301 CE and 324 CE, the relative value of the aureus jumped from about 833 to 4,350 denarii. By 356 CE, one solidus was worth how many denarii? More...
This Day in History

Berlin's Brandenburg Gate Reopens (1989)

The only remaining town gate of Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate was modeled after the propylaeum of the Athenian Acropolis. Originally topped with the "Quadriga of Victory," a statue of a chariot drawn by four horses, it was heavily damaged in World War II but was later restored. In 1961, the Berlin Wall blocked access to it for both eastern and western Germans, but it was reopened in 1989 with the reunification of East and West Berlin. The gate was the backdrop for what historic speeches? More...
Today's Birthday

Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887)

Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician. Extremely poor, he was largely self-taught from age 15. In 1913, he began a correspondence with English mathematician Godfrey H. Hardy that took him to England, where he made advances, especially in the theory of numbers, the partition of numbers, and the theory of continued fractions. He died of tuberculosis at age 32, generally unknown but recognized by mathematicians as a phenomenal genius. What anecdote exists about Ramanujan and the number 1,729? More...
Quotation of the Day
One's past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

Idiom of the Day

long arm

Broad, far-reaching power or influence. (Usually paired with a noun, as in "the long arm of the law.") More...
Today's Holiday

Zimbabwe National Unity Day (2024)

Begun in 1997, National Unity Day celebrates the coming together of Zimbabwe's two political parties, the Zanu-PF and PF Zapu (one representing the Shona-speaking and the other the Ndebele-speaking peoples). Among the celebrations to mark National Unity Day are a number of sporting events, including a soccer championship in which the winning team receives the Unity Cup. In the city of Masvingo, the general public and leading political figures gather at the Great Zimbabwe National Monuments for a concert featuring a number of popular singers and musicians. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: whip

flail - Based on Latin flagellum, "whip." More...

lash - The flexible part of a whip. More...

scourge - Based on Latin ex-, "thoroughly," and corriga, "whip." More...

crack - The "crack" of a whip is the miniature sonic boom that occurs as the tip breaks the sound barrier. More...

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