Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, September 21, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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chivvy
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Expressing Equality and InequalityWe can express similarities and differences between two nouns using adjectives that aren't comparative. To describe two things as equal, what construction can we use? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 FlanFlan is a dessert made by adding custard to a caramel-lined mold. After it is baked, then chilled, it is tipped out of the mold so the caramel is on top. The dish is popular around the world, from Europe to the Philippines to Latin America, and one form is a staple of Japanese convenience stores. Though flan is typically vanilla-flavored, it can be made with a number of other flavors, such as almond or chocolate. A variation of flan popular in Puerto Rico contains an added layer of what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus" Editorial Is Published (1897)In 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon of New York City asked her father if Santa Claus was real. When he suggested that "if you see it in The Sun, it's so," she wrote to the newspaper and asked. Editor Francis Pharcellus Church's lengthy, touching reply became one of the most reprinted newspaper editorials in US history. "Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias," wrote Church. What happened to Virginia? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853)A Dutch physicist and professor at the University of Leiden, Onnes founded in 1884 a cryogenic laboratory that would become a renowned research center for low-temperature physics. He was the first to produce liquid helium, and in the process produced a temperature within a degree of absolute zero. He also discovered superconductivity—the abnormally high electrical conductivity of certain materials at very low temperatures. When did he receive the Nobel Prize in Physics? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The first duty of a lecturer—to hand you after an hour's discourse a nugget of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks, and keep on the mantelpiece forever.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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sleep like a baby— To experience a very deep and restful sleep; to sleep soundly. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Malta Independence Day (2025)This is a nationwide celebration of Malta's independence, achieved on September 21, 1964. Malta was under the control of various political entities from its earliest days. In the early 19th century, the Maltese acknowledged Great Britain's sovereignty. Malta's heroic stand against the Axis in World War II won a declaration that self-government would be restored at the end of the war, and indeed self-government under another constitution was granted in 1947. It was revoked and restored before independence was finally granted. Independence Day is celebrated with parades and festivities throughout the country. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: privilegebox social - A social event at which boxes of food are auctioned to male bidders, who win the privilege of eating and dancing with the woman who prepared the box lunch. More... privilege, prerogative - A privilege is a right that may be extended to a group or a number of people; a prerogative is a right that, customarily, is vested in a single person. More... munity - A granted right or privilege. More... prerogative - Comes from Latin praerogare, "ask before others," and came to mean "right to precedence, privilege." More... | |