Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, March 24, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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top-notch
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Vertical ListsWhile using numbers or letters can help to better organize a list, it can also result in rather long, clunky sentences. In many cases where numbers or letters are necessary, writers often prefer to structure their lists "vertically." What does that mean? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Elizabeth NeedhamAlso known as Mother Needham, Elizabeth Needham was a notorious, 18th-century brothel-keeper known for keeping the most exclusive house in London and having customers from the highest strata of fashionable society. Although her well-connected clientele may have allowed her to elude the law for many years, she was eventually arrested in 1731 and sentenced to stand twice in the pillory. What happened the day before she was due to stand in the pillory for the second time? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Robert Koch Announces Discovery of Tuberculosis Bacterium (1882)Tuberculosis, a contagious, wasting disease that commonly attacks the lungs but may affect other organs and systems as well, is caused by several strains of mycobacteria, particularly Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans. First identified in 1882 by German bacteriologist Robert Koch, M. tuberculosis is unusual because of its lipid-rich cell wall and because it divides every 15 to 20 hours, when other bacteria divide in minutes. How long does it take E. coli to divide? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ub Iwerks (1901)After starting an unsuccessful art studio with Walt Disney, Iwerks continued working on film animation until Disney brought him to Hollywood in 1923 to help draw Alice in Cartoonland. Together, Disney and Iwerks created Mickey Mouse—drawn by Iwerks, with Disney providing the voice. Iwerks went on to develop many special effects for animated movies, winning Academy Awards in 1959 and 1965 for his technical contributions to motion pictures. What other cartoon characters did Iwerks create? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Victory is ever fickle.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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in a sorry state— In a pitiful or abject condition. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 National Cherry Blossom Festival (2024)The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., is held when the cherry trees planted around the Potomac River Tidal Basin bloom. The 3,000 trees were a gift to the city of Washington from the city of Tokyo, Japan, in 1912, and today they are the focal point of a two-week festival celebrating the friendship between the two countries. The festivities include formal receptions for the 52 festival princesses (representing the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territory of Guam) and a Cherry Blossom parade through downtown Washington. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: weighdispense - Ultimately from Latin dispendere, "weigh out." More... expend - Comes from ex-, "out," and pendere, "weigh; pay"; originally, it referred to spending money, with the root sense being "to weigh out money." More... preponderate - Once meant "weigh more" and "have greater intellectual weight." More... spend - A blend of Latin pendere, "pay, weigh," and expendere, "pay out." More... | |