Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, June 3, 2025)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
nonentity
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Using "Could" to Ask for PermissionWhen we ask someone for permission to do something, it is often considered more polite to use "could" instead of "can." However, we can only make this substitution in what situation? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 The Nika RiotsNearly half of Constantinople was destroyed and some 30,000 people were killed in the Nika riots of 532 CE. Chariot racing was quite popular at the time, and rivalries between the fans of competing teams often became mingled with political or religious disputes, sometimes leading to riots. The Nika riots began when spectators at a chariot racing event, angered by the emperor's refusal to pardon two rioters accused of murder, started attacking his palace. How was the rebellion finally suppressed? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 "Casey at the Bat" Published in the San Francisco Examiner (1888)"Casey at the Bat" was one of the most popular poems in late 19th-century America. Recited in vaudeville performances and later taken up by many celebrities, the poem tells the story of an overconfident baseball player—the "mighty Casey"—who strikes out while trying to show off. Ernest Thayer, who wrote the poem, avoided acknowledging authorship for many years because he thought it was embarrassingly bad. Which two real-life towns have laid claim to being the Mudville mentioned in the poem? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
%2c_oil_on_canvas%2c_66_x_81_cm%2c_Mus%c3%a9e_d%27Art_Moderne_de_la_Ville_de_Paris...jpg) Raoul Dufy (1877)Dufy was a French designer and painter best known for his outdoor scenes of gaiety and leisure, like horse races, parades, and concerts. He also designed textiles and illustrated books. Dufy studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and experimented with Impressionism and, later, Fauvism. In the early 1920s, he developed his distinctive style characterized by sketchily drawn objects on bright, decorative backgrounds. Later, he completed one of the largest modern paintings, an ode to what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Circus, n.: A place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women, and children acting the fool.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
a mixed picture— A portrayal of a situation highlighting both positive and negative aspects of its nature or status. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Kazanlak Rose Festival (2025)Bulgaria supplies 90 percent of the world's rose attar, and roses are raised for food and medicinal purposes as well. The 10-day festival that celebrates Bulgaria's cultivation and export of roses is held in Kazanlak, a small town in what is known as the Valley of the Roses. It begins with a procession of farmers and young people dressed in native costume and carrying baskets for the ritual picking of the rose petals. Rose-decorated floats, costumed paraders, and folk dancers follow a route through all the nearby towns. Folk dance and song programs complete the festival activities. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: throwingmissile - First an adjective meaning "suitable for throwing." More... precipitate, precipitation - Precipitate is from Latin praecipitare, "to throw or drive headlong"; precipitation first meant the action of falling or throwing down. More... throw - Its original sense was "twist, turn," as in throwing a pot on a potter's wheel; it is not known how it evolved into "hurl, project." More... gone to pot - Comes from Elizabethan times, when leftover meat was thrown into a big pot for another meal. More... | |