Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, September 29, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming the Third ConditionalThird conditionals are used to establish a hypothetical situation in the past, followed by a hypothetical outcome that did not really happen—typically, the outcome is the opposite of what actually happened. How do we form the third conditional? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The History of Big HairToday, the term "big hair" generally evokes images of an eye-catching, untidy, voluminous hairstyle worn by conformist women in the 1970s and nonconformists of all sexes into the 1990s. However, the trend of exaggerating the volume of one's hair with wigs, tools, and hair products actually began centuries ago. In the 17th century, for example, long, curly wigs became fashionable among the French aristocracy in imitation of King Louis XIV. Who are some icons of big hair? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II Is Excommunicated (1227)Prior to being excommunicated the first of several times, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II had planned to go on a crusade. However, an epidemic waylaid him and a large part of his army, delaying the conquest. As a result, he was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX. He eventually went on the postponed crusade and became king of Jerusalem. With Italy as the center of his power, Frederick, a religious skeptic, was in frequent conflict with the papacy. Frederick wrote the first book on what subject? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 László Bíró (1899)Frustrated by the way his fountain pen's sharp tip would tear paper and by the amount of time he wasted filling the pen with ink and cleaning up smudges, László Bíró set to work developing a better pen. A Hungarian newspaper editor, he noticed that the ink used in newspaper printing dried quickly and without smudging, but it was too viscous for use with existing pens. With the help of his brother, a chemist, he developed the modern ballpoint pen. How long did it take him to build his pen? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it.Herman Melville (1819-1891) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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the lion's den— A particularly dangerous, hostile, or oppressive place or situation, especially due to an angry or sinister person or group of people within it. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 State Fair of Texas (2024)Not surprisingly, the State Fair of Texas is one of the nation's biggest state fairs, claiming more than three million visitors to the 200-acre Fair Park in Dallas. The fair began in 1887, and in 1952 Big Tex, its symbol of bigness, arrived. Big Tex is a 52-foot-tall cowboy with a 30-foot chest and 7'8" biceps, wearing a five-foot-high, 75-gallon cowboy hat. The cowboy stands in the middle of the fairgrounds booming out welcomes and announcements. Among fair events are a college football game, concerts, and parades. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: silent | |