Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 15, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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prescience
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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The Coordinating Conjunction "For"The coordinating conjunction "for" is used to give a reason for something. What types of clauses does it normally join? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 HoodoosAlso known as fairy chimneys, hoodoos are tall, thin columns of rock that are left behind when everything else around them erodes, making them a strikingly conspicuous feature of the landscape. Sheltered from erosion by a cap of hard rock, they can be up to 10 stories tall. Because they may be composed of layers of rock that vary in density and thus erode at differing rates, they may take on a "totem pole" appearance. What location boasts the highest concentration of hoodoos in the world? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Decimal Day (1971)Financial calculations using the old currency of the UK were complicated, as one pound was made up of 240 pence or 20 shillings, a shilling was equal to 12 pence, and the half-crown was worth two shillings and sixpence. After considering decimalization for over a century, Parliament passed the Decimal Currency Act in 1969. The pound was to be divided into 100 "new pence," and a massive publicity campaign was launched in the weeks leading up to Decimal Day. How did people react to the change? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Irena Sendler (1910)Working with Polish resistance groups and a network of helpers, Sendler saved 2,500 Jewish children during WWII by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, sometimes hidden in suitcases. After changing the children's names and arranging for their care, she buried records of their identities in jars, hoping to someday reunite them with their parents. Though she was arrested, tortured, and reportedly executed in 1943, she actually survived the war and lived to be 98. How did she survive the Nazis? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents...and only one for birthday presents, you know.Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make (the) baby Jesus cry— To be offensive, immoral, unethical, in poor taste, etc., as might cause or provoke the displeasure or disapproval of Jesus Christ. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Susan B. Anthony Day (2023)Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906) devoted her life to the temperance, anti-slavery, and women's suffrage movements. After the Civil War, she focused all of her energies on getting women the right to vote, which was achieved in 1920 with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Tributes to Anthony take place on her birthday, February 15, in various parts of the country, and ceremonies honoring Anthony are often held at her grave in Rochester, New York. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: slaveamanuensis - Literally "slave at hand"—for a literary assistant, especially one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts. More... ciao - Also ciau; from Italian, it is an alteration of schiavo, "(I am your) slave." More... serve - From Latin servire, "serve," from servus, "slave." More... addict - To addict originally meant "to award as a slave"; an addict now is a slave to his/her habit, from Latin addictus, which, in Roman law, meant "a debtor awarded as a slave to his creditor." More... | |