Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, June 27, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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thin-skinned
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Prepositional Phrases as AdverbsWhen a prepositional phrase modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb, it is considered to have the function of an adverb within the sentence. What are these phrases called? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Tower of LondonThe Tower of London is an ancient fortress covering approximately 13 acres (5.3 hectares) on the northern bank of the River Thames. The central keep, known as the White Tower because it was built of limestone, was begun around 1078 by William I the Conqueror and became the nucleus of a series of concentric defenses. The Tower, now used mainly as a museum, was a royal residence in the Middle Ages and later a jail for illustrious prisoners such as Anne Boleyn, Guy Fawkes, and what future queen? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 "BTK" Serial Killer Dennis Rader Pleads Guilty to 10 Murders (2005)Rader was a city employee, married father of two, Boy Scout leader, and an active churchgoer—and a serial killer. From 1974 to 1991, he killed 10 people in and around Wichita, Kansas. In 2004, after years of silence, he resumed taunting police and local media with letters describing the murders. In February 2005, police used information on a floppy disk he had sent them to locate and arrest him. He pled guilty that June. Five days after his arrest, he was fired from his job—for what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Lafcadio Hearn (1850)Born in Greece and educated in Ireland, Hearn immigrated to the US at age 19 and lived in poverty for a time until he found employment as a journalist. He was a colorful but morbidly discontented man, admired for his highly polished tales of the macabre. In 1890, a magazine sent him to Japan, where he married a Japanese woman, took a Japanese name, and became a citizen. His subsequent books offered the West its first thoughtful view of Japanese culture. What partial disability did he have? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 When we quarrel, how we wish we had been blameless.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be caught off (one's) guard— To be taken by surprise; to be caught when one is vulnerable, careless, or inattentive. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith (2021)Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as Mormons, commemorate the day on which their founder, Joseph Smith, and his brother, Hyrum, were murdered in the city jail in Carthage, Illinois, in 1844. Joseph had announced his candidacy for presidency earlier that year; as the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, Smith saw to it that the press used to print the opposition newspaper was destroyed. Threats of mob violence followed, and Smith and his brother were jailed for treason. A mob of men stormed the jail on June 27 and killed them, thus elevating them to the status of martyrs. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: opportunityEl Dorado - A place offering fabulous wealth or opportunity (after the legendary place in South America, "the gilded one"). More... ease - First meant "opportunity, ability," or "means to do something." More... hint - First meant "an occasion or opportunity." More... occasion - Once had the specific sense of "an opportunity for finding fault or giving offense." More... | |