Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, April 21, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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hamartia
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using infinitivesInfinitives are used to express an action as a concept, rather than what is being done or performed by the subject of a clause. In this way, they can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs—that is, nearly any role in a sentence except what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 AvalanchesAvalanches are sudden falls or slides of large masses of material down the side of a mountain and are classified by their content, such as snow, ice, soil, rock, or a mixture of these materials. They can reach speeds of more than 200 mph (320 km/h), pushing destructive air masses, known as avalanche winds, ahead of the falling debris. The actual impact of avalanche material, meanwhile, can also cause major devastation. What can trigger an avalanche, and what measures might help prevent one? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Principality of Hutt River Secedes from Australia (1970)In the late 1960s, Australian farmer Leonard Casley protested government wheat quotas he considered unfair. Unsuccessful, he turned to Commonwealth law and styled himself a monarch—His Majesty Prince Leonard I of Hutt—and founded The Principality of Hutt River. His pronouncement of sovereignty was never successfully challenged by the Australian government, and he is now considered a non-resident of Australia for income tax purposes. What legal quirks allowed him to start his own micronation? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Henry Wheeler Shaw, AKA Josh Billings (1818)Shaw studied at Hamilton College but was expelled for removing the clapper from the chapel bell. After a roving life as farmer, explorer, and coal miner, he settled in Poughkeepsie, New York, as an auctioneer and real estate dealer. In 1860, using the pseudonym Josh Billings, he began to write humorous sketches and homespun philosophies in rural dialect—often with intentionally crude misspellings—and soon became a popular lecturer. What are some of Shaw's best aphorisms? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If you are foolish enough to be contented, don't show it, but grumble with the rest.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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bragging rights— The authority and freedom to boast or brag of one's achievements that comes from having won a contest or succeeded in some way, especially against a close rival. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Fiesta San Antonio (2024)The Fiesta San Antonio is a 10-day extravaganza of events held since 1901 in San Antonio, Texas, including San Jacinto Day, April 21. The highlight of the fiesta is the Battle of Flowers Parade alongside the Alamo. Merrymakers originally pelted each other with flowers, but now people crush cascarones, decorated eggshells filled with confetti, on each others' heads. Some 150 other events include concerts, fashion shows, art fairs, a charreada (Mexican rodeo), torchlit floats in the Fiesta Flambeau Parade, and decorated barges in the San Antonio River Parade. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: publishedfactoid - An unsubstantiated statement, account, or report published as if it were factual, coined by the novelist Norman Mailer from fact + -oid (as in android, humanoid), in reference to his fictionalized biography of Marilyn Monroe. More... divulgate - If something is divulgate, it is published. More... libel, slander - Libel—from Latin libellus, "little book"—must be published, while spoken defamatory remarks are slander; libel first meant "document, written statement." More... backlist - Older books kept in print by a publisher. More... | |