Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, August 19, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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superable
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining VerbsVerbs are used to indicate the actions, processes, conditions, or states of beings of people or things. They constitute the root of the predicate, which, along with the subject, forms a full clause or sentence. When we discuss verbs' role in the predicate, we usually divide them into what two fundamental categories? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 EcclesiastesEcclesiastes is a book in the Jewish and Christian biblical canon. Its author—traditionally held to be Solomon—is occupied with the notion that wickedness and death seem to mock all effort to find purpose in life. The book opens with the assertion that because life on Earth has no meaning, it should be enjoyed. It goes on to emphasize the universality of death. The apparent cynicism of the book is said to have distressed ancient rabbis. What memorable verse decries the pointlessness of life? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Leonard Bernstein Conducts His Final Concert (1990)Less than two months before he died, Bernstein, a highly regarded American composer and conductor, conducted what would be his final concert. He had suffered from smoking-related lung problems for years, and his coughing fit partway through the Boston Symphony appearance that night nearly ended the performance. With his health declining, he officially retired in early October, and he died just five days later. What feat in 1943 made him an overnight sensation and set his career in motion? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Roman Vishniac (1897)A Russian-American biologist, photographer, linguist, art historian, philosopher, and professor, Vishniac is best remembered for producing a photographic record of Central and Eastern European Jewish communities in the years preceding the Holocaust. His efforts were not without risk; he was imprisoned 11 times and forced to do hard labor in two concentration camps. He escaped to the US in 1940 and returned to his scientific roots, contributing to the development of what photographic techniques? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Too often we...enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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(one's) blood is up— One is in an angry, aggressive, or violent mood; one is looking or ready for a fight. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Jeshn (2025)Jeshn is a celebration of Afghanistan's independence from British control that has been observed throughout the country but with special ceremonies in Kabul. The Treaty of Rawalpindi, signed on August 8, 1919, gave Afghanistan the right to conduct its own foreign affairs. It was the formal conclusion of the Third Anglo-Afghan War, which actually ended in May 1919, but August is a slack agricultural period and therefore a time when more people can celebrate a holiday. The holiday has been observed with parades, dancing, games, music, and speeches by government figures. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: technicalspod - A studious person who is quite socially inept or dull or a person who pursues an unfashionable, technical, or esoteric interest with obsessive dedication. More... masterpiece - Originally, it was used in a technical or academic sense to apply to a work that was presented to a medieval guild for qualification as a "master." More... technical, technic - Technical is based on technic, an adjective meaning "pertaining to art," from Greek tekhne, "art." More... technicize - To make technical. More... | |