Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, August 6, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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swallowtail
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Past Perfect TenseThe past perfect tense expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past. It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past. How do we form the past perfect tense? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The CIAEstablished in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an independent executive bureau of the US government. Its primary function is obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons, and reporting such information to the various branches of government. Congress placed restraints on its activities in the early 1970s, when reports that it had engaged in assassinations and domestic spying surfaced. How was CIA involved in the Watergate scandal? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The First Execution by Electric Chair (1890)In the 1880s, inventor Thomas Edison sought to promote direct current (DC) power distribution by convincing the public that the alternating current (AC) electricity backed by rival George Westinghouse was dangerous. To that end, his partners developed an AC-powered electric chair, which was adopted by the state of New York as an official execution device. In 1889, murderer William Kemmler was sentenced to be the first person to be executed via electric chair. What happened during the execution? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Andy Warhol (1928)Warhol, one of the most influential artists of the late 20th century, was the leading exponent of the pop art movement. Seeking to minimize the role of his own hand in his work, Warhol began mass-producing silkscreen paintings with the help of assistants at his studio, dubbed "the Factory." His works, which are both popular and controversial, feature commonplace objects, such as dollar bills, soup cans, and soft-drink bottles, as well as celebrities like Marilyn Monroe. Who shot him in 1968? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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gut factor— The subjective, emotional element or dimension that influences a decision. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony (2023)This ceremony has been held each year since 1947 at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, in memory of the victims of the atomic bomb that devastated the city in 1945. On August 15, Japan surrendered, ending World War II. The peace ceremony is held in the evening, when the city's citizens set thousands of lanterns adrift on the Ota River and prayers are offered for world peace. Memorial services are also held throughout the world. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: smokingstogie, stogy - A stogie (or stogy) is named for the Conestoga wagon—as drivers of the wagons rolled tobacco into thin ropes for smoking on long trips; stogies are now long, thin cigars. More... cigar - Comes from Spanish cigarro, from the Mayan verb sik'ar, "to smoke" or "smoking." More... dottle - Any tobacco left in a pipe after smoking. More... pipe dream - Originated with opium smoking. More... | |