Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, June 7, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming Interrogative SentencesWhen we make sentences into questions, we almost always use auxiliary verbs that are inverted with the subject. This is known as subject-verb inversion. We can also use "question words" to ask more nuanced questions, but we still use auxiliary verbs and subject-verb inversion. What are some examples of question words? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Electromagnetic SpectrumThe electromagnetic spectrum is the total range of frequencies or wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation—self-propagating waves of energy that result from the acceleration of electric charges. The spectrum ranges from waves of long wavelength, or low frequency, to those of short wavelength, or high frequency, and includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays. In a vacuum, these waves all travel at what speed? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US Supreme Court Decides Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)In 1961, Estelle Griswold, executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, opened a birth control clinic for women in deliberate defiance of an 1879 law outlawing the use or distribution of contraceptives. She was arrested and fined. Her appeal made it to the US Supreme Court, which stated in a landmark 1965 decision that married couples had a right to "marital privacy," which included the right to use birth control. When was the same right extended to unwed individuals? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Paul Gauguin (1848)First a sailor and then a successful stockbroker in Paris, Gauguin took up painting on weekends when he was in his mid-20s. Eventually, with the encouragement of Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro, he devoted himself completely to art, quitting his job and separating from his wife and five children. Today, he is recognized as a highly influential founding father of modern art whose bold experiments with color led directly to the Synthetist style. What did Gauguin and Van Gogh have in common? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians.John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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drive (someone) potty— To make someone particularly annoyed, vexed, or crazy. Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Great American Brass Band Festival (2023)This weekend re-creation of the golden age of brass bands in America is held at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. About a dozen bands from throughout the U.S. and Canada play Sousa march music, ragtime, and jazz in the New Orleans funeral-march style. A highlight is a band playing over-the-shoulder instruments of the Civil War period; the music blew to the rear of the band so it could be heard by the troops marching behind. The festival begins with a hot-air balloon race, and music then continues through the weekend. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sunsetoccultation - One of its meanings is "the disappearance from view of a star or planet in the sun's rays after sunset or before sunrise, when the star or planet is above the horizon." More... acronical - Means happening at sunset or twilight. More... antitwilight - The sky's pink or purple glow after sunset. More... evening - Its Old English base meant "grow towards night," as evening extends from sunset to dark. More... | |