Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, June 4, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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ultramarine
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming a Compound Sentence with a SemicolonCompound sentences are made up of at least two independent clauses expressing closely related ideas of equal or similar importance. When can we join the clauses using a semicolon without a conjunction? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Andrea BocelliBocelli is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. Blind since the age of 12 and favoring opera over other, more popular styles of music, Bocelli overcame the odds and became an international superstar. His chart-topping success is, in part, due to his blending of operatic arias with pop music. Though this has helped him sell tens of millions of records, it has also earned him criticism from opera purists. What did Bocelli do for a living before becoming a "popera" star? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Jonathan Pollard Pleads Guilty to Espionage Charges (1986)After leaving graduate school in 1979, Pollard immediately began applying for intelligence positions, and landed one at the US Naval Investigative Service (NIS). In 1985, after he had attained a high level of clearance, coworkers noticed that he was accessing a huge number of documents for seemingly no reason. He was arrested and, the following year, pled guilty to selling secrets to Israel. He was sentenced to life in prison. What early clues nearly derailed his career before it started? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 François Quesnay (1694)While serving as consulting physician to Louis XV at Versailles, Quesnay developed an interest in economics. In his 1758 Tableau économique, he described the relationship between the different economic classes of society and the flow of payments among them, and he developed the concept of economic balance used by many later economic analysts. An advocate of laissez-faire economics, he believed that all wealth originated with the land. What school of economics is he credited with founding? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a modest proposal— An extreme, unorthodox, and often provocative or distasteful remedy to a complex problem, generally suggested humorously or satirically. (An allusion to Jonathan Swift's 1729 essay A Modest Proposal, in which he suggests that the poor of Ireland could alleviate their woes by selling their children as food.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Tonga Emancipation Day (2025)June 4 is a national holiday in the Kingdom of Tonga, celebrating its full independence from Britain. On June 4, 1863, King George Tupuo I abolished the system of serfdom in the island nation of Tonga. The historic occasion is remembered on Emancipation Day, which is celebrated just after the conclusion of the annual three-day Ha'apai Festival. The Ha'apai Festival begins on Tonga's outer islands and ends on Lifuka Island on June 4th. Both the festival and Emancipation Day are marked with feasts and dancing. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mirrorcheval glass - A tall mirror swung on an upright frame that takes its name from French cheval, "horse"—a synonym for "supporting framework," which describes this mirror. More... catoptric - Means pertaining to a mirror, reflection, or reflector. More... mirage - From French se mirer, "be reflected," from Latin mirare, "look at"—the same root used in mirror. More... heliography - Using a mirror to send a signal. More... | |