Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, August 25, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Degrees of Comparison - AdverbsJust like adjectives, adverbs have comparative and superlative degrees; adverbs in their basic forms are sometimes known as being in the positive degree. What do superlative adverbs identify? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Ars GoetiaArs Goetia is the title of the first section of The Lesser Key of Solomon, an anonymous 17th-century book of magic that became one of the most popular texts of demonology. The Ars Goetia describes the 72 demons that King Solomon is said to have confined in a magic vessel and includes instructions on how to use magic rituals to call up the same demons to do the conjurer's will. What famous British occultist published a revised version of the Ars Goetia? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 New York Sun Publishes "The Great Moon Hoax" (1835)"The Great Moon Hoax" was a series of six New York Sun articles discussing the supposed discovery of life on the Moon. The discovery—allegedly made using a massive telescope—was falsely attributed to famed astronomer Sir John Herschel. In the articles, the author claims that unicorns, bipedal beavers, bat-like humanoids, and other fantastic animals inhabit a forest- and ocean-covered Moon. The series was likely intended to boost the paper's sales and ridicule what contemporary theories? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jane Stanford (1828)Jane Stanford was the wife of a prominent American railroad builder and politician. After the death of the couple's only child in 1884, they began looking for ways to honor his memory. The next year, they founded Leland Stanford Junior University, popularly known as Stanford University. When her husband passed away in 1893, Jane stepped in to run the university and saw it through a difficult financial period, at times using her personal finances to fund the school. Who poisoned her in 1905? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The remedy is worse than the disease.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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harp on the same string— To dwell tediously and repeatedly upon a single subject or topic, especially in complaint. Likened to playing the same note over and over again on a harp. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Uruguay Independence Day (2023)This national holiday commemorates the declaration of independence of Uruguay from Portuguese rule on this day in 1825. By 1828, Uruguay was officially autonomous. Patriotic ceremonies are held in the capital city of Montevideo, with speeches and the singing of the national anthem. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tombepitaph - From Greek epi, "upon, over," and taphos, "tomb" or "funeral." More... lair - First meant "grave, tomb," or "place where one sleeps." More... pall, pallbearer - Pallbearer is based on pall, which was first a cloth spread over a coffin, hearse, or tomb. More... cromlech - Is Welsh for "arched stone" and means "any megalithic chamber tomb." More... | |