Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, June 23, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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escarp
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Transitive Verbs and Direct ObjectsA transitive verb describes an action that is happening to something or someone, which is known as the verb's "direct object." For instance, in the sentence "I am reading a book," what is the direct object? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 PorcelainPorcelain is a white, hard, nonporous pottery which is resonant when struck. It was first made by the Chinese to withstand the great heat generated in certain parts of their kilns. The two natural substances used were kaolin and a feldspar mineral called petuntse that forms a glassy cement. In Europe porcelain was first commercially produced in the early 1700s. Most of the European porcelain is soft paste and is not as strong as the Chinese hard-paste porcelain. What is bone china? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Christopher Latham Sholes Granted Typewriter Patent (1868)As a teen, American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes apprenticed with a printer and later became a newspaper publisher. In 1868, he, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soulé were granted a patent for their design for the first practical typewriter. Five years later, he sold his rights for $12,000 to the Remington Arms Co., which developed the Remington Typewriter. Sholes went on to invent the so-called QWERTY keyboard that is still in use today. Why did he arrange the letters in this unusual order? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Oda Nobunaga (1534)Nobunaga—son of a daimyo, or feudal lord—was a Japanese military commander and one of the three unifiers of premodern Japan, along with his general Toyotomi Hideyoshi and ally Tokugawa Ieyasu. One of the first Japanese generals to arm his foot soldiers with muskets, Nobunaga destroyed the armies of powerful Buddhist sects and greatly expanded his father's holdings. He also stimulated the economy through the use of the free market system. Nobunaga supported missionaries from what religion? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I didn't want to work. It was as simple as that. I distrusted work, disliked it. I thought it was a very bad thing that the human race had unfortunately invented for itself.Agatha Christie (1890-1976) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go under the hammer— To be put up for or sold at auction. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Luxembourg National Day (2023)On the eve of this national holiday, Dudelange hosts a torchlight procession, and the castle at Wiltz hosts a fête in the courtyard. Fireworks, parades, special religious services, public concerts, and dancing comprise the elaborate celebration in the capital city of Luxembourg. On National Day, people assemble in the capital not only to celebrate their independence, but also to observe the official birthday of the Grand Duke. The people there identify strongly with their country and speak their own language, known as Luxembourgeois. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: reflectionepiphonema - An exclamatory sentence or reflection summing up a discourse. More... rainbow - Comes from Old Norse regnbogi (becoming Old English renboga, ren, "rain," and boga, "bend, bow") and is a bow or arch of the colors of the prism that is formed in the sky opposite to the sun by the reflection, double refraction, and dispersion of the sun's rays in falling drops of rain. More... sheet lightning - Appears as a broad sheetlike illumination of parts of a thundercloud, caused by the reflection of a lightning flash. More... | |