Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, March 12, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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luxuriant
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Free Indirect SpeechFree indirect speech (also known as free indirect discourse) is used to indicate the thoughts or mental processes of a character. Where is this type of speech most commonly found? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Aïr MountainsSurrounded by barren plateaus and vast deserts on all sides, the towering Aïr Mountains of northern Niger are an ecological, geographical, and cultural island in the Sahara. The numerous oases in the mountains are home to the traditionally nomadic Tuareg people, while other areas consist entirely of volcanic protrusions. The region is known for the ancient rock art left there by early inhabitants and is rich in uranium deposits. What unusual natural phenomenon struck the Aïr Mountains in 2004? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 California's St. Francis Dam Fails (1928)Constructed between 1924 and 1926, the St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity-arch dam designed to act as a reservoir to store water for the Los Angeles Aqueduct. In 1928, the dam catastrophically failed, and the resulting flood of 12 billion US gallons (45 billion liters) of water killed more than 450 people. The dam's collapse was the worst American civil engineering failure of the 20th century and remains the second-greatest loss of life disaster in California's history, after what event? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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.jpg) Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832)Boycott was the estate agent for the Earl of Erne, an absentee landowner in County Mayo, Ireland, at a time when the Irish Land League was pressing for agrarian reform. In 1880, Boycott's refusal to reduce rents for tenant farmers, combined with his attempted eviction of 11 of them, led the League to launch a campaign of ostracism and isolation—now known as a "boycott"—against him and his family. Upon finding himself suddenly without servants, farmhands, or local services, Boycott did what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser.Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get down to work— To begin being serious about something; to begin attending to business or work at hand. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Gregory's Day (2024)St. Gregory, a sixth-century monk who became pope, is also the patron saint of schoolchildren and scholars. In Belgium, schoolchildren rise early on March 12 and parade through the streets dressed as "little soldiers of St. Gregory." They carry a big basket for gifts and are accompanied by a noisy drummer. The young girls in the procession wear big shoulder bows that resemble the wings of a butterfly. They march from house to house, pausing at each door to sing a song and to ask for treats, and the procession always includes a group of angels. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: worrycark - The noun means "solicitude or sympathetic feeling"; the verb means to fret anxiously or to cause distress or worry. More... distrait, distraught - Distrait means "absent-minded as a result of apprehension, worry, etc."—while distraught means "agitated" and "bewildered, distracted." More... ish kabbible - Meaning "I should worry," it is of unknown origin, but is perhaps derived from Yiddish nisht gefidlt, popularized (and perhaps coined) by comedienne Fanny Brice. More... kedogenous - "Brought about by worry or anxiety." More... | |