Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, December 17, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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ApostrophesAn apostrophe is a punctuation mark that primarily serves to indicate either grammatical possession or the contraction of two words. What is a proclitic? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Swami VivekanandaSwami Vivekananda was a Hindu mystic, a disciple of Ramakrishna, and one of the most influential spiritual leaders of the Vedanta philosophy. In 1890, Vivekananda began a journey that would take him throughout India as a wandering monk. A few years later, he represented Hinduism at the US World Parliament of Religions and is credited with helping kindle Western interest in the religion. His Ramakrishna Mission, now one of the largest Hindu monastic orders in India, was founded on what principle? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Prime Minister of Australia Disappears (1967)Harold Holt was an Australian political leader who served in a number of cabinet positions before becoming prime minister in 1966, upon the retirement of Robert Gordon Menzies, whom Holt succeeded as Liberal party leader. During his short tenure, he increased the number of Australian troops in South Vietnam, a policy that caused controversy. He disappeared while swimming in rough surf in 1967 and is believed to have drowned. What Australian urban legends are based on Holt's disappearance? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John Greenleaf Whittier (1807)Whittier was an American Quaker poet and reformer. He had little formal education but was an avid reader, and he published his first volume of poems in 1831. He declared himself an abolitionist in 1833 and worked to promote the cause as a politician, poet, and editor of antislavery periodicals. After slavery was abolished in the US, he turned his focus to writing poems that vividly portray rural New England life. Which of his poems was mistakenly attributed to Ethan Allen for nearly sixty years? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all mortal.John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hit the rocks— To encounter an especially difficult, troubled, or low point, as in a relationship or some pursuit. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Saturnalia (2023)This Ancient Roman Winter Solstice festival began on December 17 and lasted for seven days. It was held in honor of Saturn, the father of the gods, and was characterized by the suspension of discipline and reversal of the usual order. Grudges and quarrels were forgotten; businesses, courts, and schools closed down; and masquerading or change of dress between the sexes often occurred. The festivities were characterized by various kinds of excesses—giving rise to the modern use of the term saturnalian, which is used to describe "unrestrained license and revelry." More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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