Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, November 25, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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CommasCommas are used to connect two or more elements in a sentence, but the way in which they do this varies widely, depending on what these elements are. What is a comma splice? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Centralia, PennsylvaniaA modern-day ghost town, Centralia, Pennsylvania, is the site of an underground coal mine fire that has been burning for nearly 50 years. In 1962, the planned burning of a landfill ignited an exposed vein of coal, leading to an underground conflagration that now underlies approximately 400 acres (1.6 sq km). The state has condemned all of Centralia's buildings, yet a handful of residents remain there, despite sinkholes, escaping gases, and health warnings. How long is the fire expected to burn? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Anti-Comintern Pact Signed by Germany and Japan (1936)The German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact was one of a series of agreements leading to the formation of the Axis Powers. Ostensibly directed against the Comintern, an association of national communist parties that degenerated under Stalin into an instrument of Soviet politics, the pact contained a secret agreement stating that if either signatory power went to war with the USSR, the other would maintain a benevolent neutrality. What other countries eventually signed the treaty? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Karl Benz (1844)Benz was a German engineer credited with building the first automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine. His Motorwagen, the first commercial automobile, was first driven in 1885 and patented the next year. It had three wheels, an electric ignition, differential gears, and was water-cooled. Benz's familiarity with and fondness for bicycles inspired the design of his "horseless carriage." According to legend, who took one of Benz's early models on the first long-distance road trip? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have (one's) fill (of something)— To have, consume, or experience as much (of something) as one desires or is able to. Often used in the present perfect tense ("have had one's fill"). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Bosnia and Herzegovina Statehood Day (2023)Bosnia and Herzegovina are two adjoining regions in the Balkans that were ruled by Croatian kings in medieval times. They were united into a province under the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Statehood Day commemorates the November 25, 1943, assembly of the first joint Bosnian and Herzegovinan parliament. In 1946, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the newly-formed Yugoslav federation. Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia on March 1, 1992. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: perverseawkward - Comes from Old Norse awk, "perverse," and weard, "in the direction of," i.e. "turned back upon itself" or "turned backward." More... crabby, crabbed - Crabby and crabbed derive from a crab's sideways movement and habit of snapping (thought to suggest a perverse or irritable nature). More... peeve - A back-formation from peevish, "perverse, obstinate." More... queer - Comes from the German root quer, "across, oblique, perverse." More... | |