Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, August 6, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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banality
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adverbs in Different Degrees of ComparisonJust like adjectives, adverbs have comparative and superlative degrees. What are adverbs in their basic forms sometimes known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SupermaxSupermax prisons provide long-term, segregated housing for the most dangerous criminals. An early supermax-style prison unit opened in Australia in 1975 but was shuttered after just two years due to human rights concerns. Since then, the supermax model has been adopted by many corrections systems around the globe despite continued criticism. "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski and 9-11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui are among the most infamous US supermax inmates. What is everyday life like for them? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Gertrude Ederle Becomes First Woman to Swim across the English Channel (1926)Only five men had managed to swim across the 35-mile (56-km) English Channel by the time Ederle became the first woman to make the trip. On her second attempt, the 19-year-old Olympic medalist from America made the swim from France to England in 14 hours and 31 minutes—beating the male record-holder by two hours. Hours before Ederle reached England, the weather deteriorated. A supporter following her by boat called out and urged her to get out of the water. What was Ederle's reply? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Lucille Désirée Ball (1911)Ball was the star of the tremendously popular 1950s television show I Love Lucy. Prior to her superstardom, Ball appeared in many B-movies, earning the nickname "Queen of the B's." With her rasping voice and a comic persona alternately brassy and feminine, she became the preeminent female star of the early decades of television. She and costar Desi Arnaz, married in real life and on I Love Lucy, divorced after the show ended. In what other shows and films did Ball appear? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 One can sometimes do good by being the right person in the wrong place.Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be put behind bars— To be arrested and held in prison; to be serving time in prison. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Feast of the Transfiguration (2022)As described in the first three Gospels, Jesus took his three closest disciples to a mountaintop to pray. While he was praying, his face shone like the sun and his garments became glistening white. Then a bright cloud came over them, and a voice from within the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." This feast is observed by Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Lutherans, and Anglicans. The mountaintop on which the Transfiguration took place is traditionally believed to be Mount Tabor, a few miles east of Nazareth in Galilee. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: weighdispense - Ultimately from Latin dispendere, "weigh out." More... expend - Comes from ex-, "out," and pendere, "weigh; pay"; originally, it referred to spending money, with the root sense being "to weigh out money." More... preponderate - Once meant "weigh more" and "have greater intellectual weight." More... spend - A blend of Latin pendere, "pay, weigh," and expendere, "pay out." More... | |