Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, April 4, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Introducing Lists with ColonsThe most commonly cited use for a colon is to introduce a list of information. In many cases, the list is simply an extension of the existing sentence. What is this type of list known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Erzsébet Báthory: Serial Killer CountessRemembered as the "Bloody Lady of Cachtice" and considered the most infamous serial killer in Hungarian and Slovak history, Erzsébet Báthory was a 17th-century Hungarian countess from the renowned Báthory family. Accused of torturing and killing hundreds of young girls, Báthory was arrested and sentenced to house arrest in 1610. Her story inspired numerous legends, including that of the countess bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain her youth. How did she die? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 World Trade Center Opens in New York City (1973)With seven buildings and a shopping concourse, the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan was the largest commercial complex in the world before it was destroyed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Its most prominent structures were the 110-story rectangular Twin Towers, which, at more than 1,360 ft (415 m) tall, were the tallest buildings in the world until the Sears Tower surpassed them in 1974. How did the construction of the complex lead to the expansion of the island of Manhattan? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Dorothea Dix (1802)Dix left an unhappy home at age 10 to live with her grandmother in Boston. By age 14, the resourceful Dix was on her own and working as a schoolteacher. In 1841, while teaching in a Massachusetts prison, Dix saw firsthand the inhumane way that mentally ill prisoners were treated. Appalled, she became a pioneer in the movement for humane treatment of the insane. Her efforts brought about widespread reforms in both the US and Canada. What position did Dix hold during the US Civil War? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is when suffering finds a voice and sets our nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us.H.G. Wells (1866-1946) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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move house— To relocate from one house or place of residence to another. Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of San Isidro of Seville (2024)St. Isidro, or Isidore, (c. 560-636) was born in Cartagena, Spain, and eventually became bishop of Seville. In Río Frío, Colombia, April occurs in autumn and is typically very dry. On San Isidro's feast day, April 4, townspeople process the saint's image around the streets in the hope that he will help bring rain. The procession takes two steps forward, then one step backward, and so on, with the idea that if it drags out long enough, some rain may fall before the festivities end. If no rain falls, those who had been singing praises to St. Isidro may begin to insult and swear at him. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: painterpaysagist - A painter of landscapes. More... pointillist - A painter who creates separate dots of pure color instead of mixed pigments; the pronunciation is PWAHN-tuhl-ist. More... pictorial - First meant "pertaining to a painter or painting," as it derives from Latin pictor, "painter." More... picturesque - Based on Italian pittore, "painter," its original meaning was "in the style of a painter." More... | |