Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, April 8, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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atrophy
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Interrogative Adjectives in QuestionsWhen interrogative adjectives appear in normal direct questions, they are placed at the beginning of the sentence and are immediately followed by the noun that they modify. What other types of questions can interrogative adjectives appear in? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Napster: Listeners and LawsuitsOne of the most notorious names in the early years of the commercial Internet, Napster was a peer-to-peer music file sharing service created in 1999 by then 18-year-old Shawn Fanning. More than 60 million users took advantage of the service, but despite its popularity, it quickly became one of the most controversial ventures on the Web due to the widespread sharing of copyrighted material. The music industry sued, claiming losses of millions in royalties, and won. What became of Napster? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Tennis Player Arthur Ashe Announces He Has AIDS (1992)Ashe was the first African-American male to reach prominence in tennis and was thus a very public figure, even after his retirement, which followed a 1979 heart attack and quadruple-bypass surgery. In 1983, he contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during a second heart surgery. He kept it a secret until 1992, when a newspaper threatened to publish a story about his illness. His subsequent openness about AIDS helped combat the disease's stigma. How much longer did Ashe live? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sonja Henie (1912)Henie began ice skating at the age of eight and won the first of six straight Norwegian figure-skating championships within two years. Starting in 1927, she won the world's figure-skating crown 10 straight years, the European title six times, and the Olympic gold medal three times. She introduced music and dance into free skating, greatly broadening its appeal, and turned professional in 1936, earning millions starring in films and ice shows. Why did many Norwegians consider her a quisling? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Distrust interested advice.Aesop (620 BC-560 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a game of musical chairs— A situation in which people or things are moved, shuffled, or rearranged from one position to another. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Hana Matsuri (2025)Hana Matsuri is a celebration of the Buddha's birthday, observed in Buddhist temples throughout Japan, where it is known as Kambutsue. The highlight of the celebration is a ritual known as kambutsue ("ceremony of 'baptizing' the Buddha"), in which a tiny bronze statue of the Buddha, standing in an open lotus flower, is anointed with sweet tea. People use a small bamboo ladle to pour the tea, made of hydrangea leaves, over the head of the statue. The custom is supposed to date from the seventh century, when perfume was used, as well as tea. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: prizeathlete - Derived from Greek athlon, "prize" or "contest"—which also gives us triathlon (etc.); it should be pronounced ATH-leet—with two syllables, not three. More... cakewalk - Started out as a competitive dance whose winner got a cake as a prize. More... premium - First meant "prize, reward." More... taking the cake - Once meant literally winning the prize of a cake, awarded in a cakewalk. More... | |