Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, August 29, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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picayune
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Common Prepositional ErrorsSome common errors that arise when trying to determine the appropriate preposition to use with a particular kind of verb. How are prepositions used with transitive verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 ExtremophilesExtremophiles are microorganisms that thrive in environments with extreme conditions, such as high or low temperatures or pH levels, high salt concentration, or high pressure. Found in hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, they produce the vivid colors of some hot springs. Due to extremophiles' ability to thrive in conditions detrimental to most life on Earth, some scientists theorize that they may reflect what life may be like on other planets. How are extremophiles used industrially? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Battle of Mohács Begins (1526)In 1526, King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia led a poorly prepared army against a vastly superior Turkish force led by Sultan Suleiman I with disastrous results. About 25,000 of the king's soldiers were killed in the battle, and the rest were taken captive and massacred. Louis himself died during the retreat after being thrown from his horse. The defeat resulted in more than 150 years of Ottoman domination in Hungary. What modern Hungarian expression of bad luck references the battle? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809)The father of the US Supreme Court justice of the same name, Holmes was an American physician, poet, and humorist. After beginning his medical career as a general practitioner, he shifted to the academic field and became dean of the Harvard medical school. However, he is perhaps best known for the poem that won him national acclaim—"Old Ironsides," a protest against the scrapping of the USS Constitution, which helped save the ship. What common medical term was coined by Holmes? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 She might yet be able to help him to the building of the rainbow bridge that should connect the prose in us with the passion. Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man.E. M. Forster (1879-1970) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be on (one's) conscience— To be a persistent cause or source of guilt, such as an act of wrongdoing. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Canadian National Exhibition (2023)The first Canadian National Exhibition was held in 1879 in Toronto. The fair moved briefly to Ottawa, but it returned to Toronto and was called the Toronto Industrial Exhibition until 1921, when the name was changed to reflect its nationwide appeal. Located on the shores of Lake Ontario, about 10 minutes from downtown Toronto, the fairgrounds occupy 350 acres of lawns, gardens, pavilions, and Victorian-style buildings. Events include an air show, a horse show, celebrity appearances, and much more. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: knightesquire - At its root, it means "shield bearer (in service to a knight)," from Latin scutarius. More... forget-me-nots - May have gotten their name from the last words of a knight who drowned while trying to pick these flowers by a riverside. More... heart on one's sleeve - Comes from chivalry, when a knight wore a scarf or other item from his lady tied to his sleeve. More... | |