Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 10, 2025)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
sibylline
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Postpositive AdjectivesWhile attributive adjectives are generally found before the noun they modify, especially in simple sentences, there are also many cases in which they are placed immediately after the noun ("postpositively"). Attributive adjectives almost always appear postpositively when they modify what kind of pronoun? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 The Vrba-Wetzler ReportTwo weeks after their 1944 escape from Auschwitz, Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler met with Jewish officials in Slovakia and gave them a detailed report on the Nazi concentration camp as well as sketches of its layout, gas chambers, and crematoria. Although the report's release to the public was controversially delayed, it was the first detailed report on Auschwitz that the Allies found credible and is credited with having saved many lives. Why did Vrba claim the report was deliberately withheld? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Lord Darnley, Second Husband of Mary Queen of Scots, Found Murdered (1567)Though Darnley's murder remains an unsolved mystery, one certainty is that at the time of his death, he was not well-liked. In line for the English throne, he infuriated Queen Elizabeth by marrying Mary Queen of Scots. He then alienated Mary by accusing her of infidelity and stabbing her secretary to death in front of her. Mary distanced herself from him, and shortly thereafter, his house exploded. He was found dead—but not from the blast. How was he killed, and who is suspected of his murder? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Bertolt Brecht (1898)Brecht was a German playwright and poet whose brilliant wit and revolutionary theatrical experiments made him a vital and controversial force in modern drama. In 1928, he displayed his hostility toward capitalism as well as his bittersweet compassion for humanity in The Threepenny Opera. With the rise of the Nazis in 1933, he went into exile, first in Scandinavia and then in the US. One of Brecht's most important theories was the concept of Verfremdungseffekt, which means what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 A nation never falls but by suicide.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
make a run for (someone or something)— To run suddenly and at great speed toward someone or something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Feast of St. Paul's Shipwreck (2025)This feast is a commemoration in Malta of the shipwreck of St. Paul on the island in 60 CE, an event told about in the New Testament. When storms drove the ship aground, Paul was welcomed by the "barbarous people" (meaning they were not Greco-Romans). According to legend, he got their attention when a snake bit him on the hand but did him no harm, and he then healed people of diseases. Paul is the patron saint of Malta and snakebite victims. The day is a public holiday, and is observed with family gatherings and religious ceremonies and processions. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: secondsblipvert - A TV advertisement of a few seconds' length. More... centiday - A period of 14 minutes 24 seconds, a hundredth of a day, used especially in the study of plant growth. More... fireflies, lightning bug - Fireflies glow for a while but die down; lightning bugs flash their taillights for only a few seconds and never in the same place twice. More... | |