Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, August 22, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining BracketsBrackets ( [ ] ) are similar to parentheses in that they are used to contain information that does not impact the overall grammatical structure of the sentence. What are brackets usually used to indicate within quoted speech? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Papyrus of the Nile DeltaPapyrus was an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, a wetland sedge that once flourished in the Nile Delta. Though its earliest use has been traced to Ancient Egypt, it was also widely used throughout the Mediterranean region, inland parts of Europe, and southwest Asia. Making a sheet of papyrus involves a complex process of layering the inner piths of the stems, then hammering, drying, and polishing them. What unlikely article of clothing was made from papyrus? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The First Geneva Convention Is Signed (1864)After witnessing firsthand the suffering of thousands of wounded soldiers left without aid on a battlefield in Italy, Jean-Henri Dunant returned to his native Switzerland and began campaigning for the humane treatment of war wounded. This prompted an international conference that resulted in the First Geneva Convention, an international agreement protecting neutral medical personnel and wounded soldiers. The Red Cross was also founded as a direct result of his efforts. What battle inspired him? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908)Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer who is considered the father of photojournalism. His works, which were unmanipulated and achieved with simple techniques, are remarkable for their flawless capture of a situation's "decisive moment." He served in World War II and escaped a Nazi prison camp after three years to dig up a camera he had previously buried. He hated being photographed and was fiercely private. He claimed to have confided his secrets in someone he would never meet again. Who? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 'Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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put the hammer down— To press down the accelerator (of an automobile) as far as possible; to accelerate to or travel at an automobile's maximum speed. Primarily heard in US. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Queenship of Mary (2025)Mary, the mother of Jesus, was identified with the title of "Queen" at least as early as the 13th century. On October 11, 1954, during the Marian year that marked the centenary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Pope Pius XII established the feast of the Queenship of Mary on May 31. After the Second Vatican Council, the feast (classified as an obligatory memorial) was changed to August 22 so that it would follow the Feast of the Assumption on August 15. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pillargnomon, gnomonics - A gnomon is the pillar or rod that casts a shadow on a sundial; gnomonics is the art or science of dialing or of constructing dials to show the hour of the day by the shadow of a gnomon. More... pilaster - First referred to a square or rectangular column or pillar. More... pillar - From Latin pila, "pillar," the source of compile, pilaster, and pile. More... column - Its underlying notion is of "height, command, extremity," and it comes from Latin columna, "pillar," which probably came from columen/culmen, "top, summit." More... | |