Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, July 21, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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traipse
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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The Anticipatory "It"There are a number of other situations where "it" can be used as a dummy pronoun, without pertaining to weather, distance, or time. What is the anticipatory "it"? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Endogenous RetrovirusRetroviruses carry their genetic blueprint in the form of RNA, which they use to synthesize DNA—the reverse of the usual process. This makes it possible for their genetic material to become a permanent part of the genes of an infected cell. An endogenous retrovirus is a retrovirus-like sequence found in an organism's genome that is thought to constitute the remains of a true retrovirus absorbed through evolution. In humans, endogenous retroviruses are suspected of involvement in what diseases? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Sirimavo Bandaranaike Becomes World's First Female Prime Minister (1960)After her husband's assassination in 1959, Bandaranaike became the first woman in the world to serve as a nation's prime minister. She led two coalition governments, from 1960–65 and from 1970–77, and promoted a new constitution that proclaimed a republic and changed the country's name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka. She was later stripped of her civil rights because of abuses as prime minister but reentered politics in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, she was again appointed prime minister by whom? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Don Knotts (1924)Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of the bumbling but earnest sheriff's deputy Barney Fife on the 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. When the show first aired, Griffith—as Sheriff Andy Taylor—was to be the comedic lead, and Knotts was to play his straight man, but Knotts's Fife proved so funny that this was soon reversed. The role earned Knotts 5 Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Comedy. In what film did he first appear with Griffith? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist. They have never felt the iron of it in their flesh. They do not know how mean it makes you. It exposes you to endless humiliation, it cuts your wings, it eats into your soul like a cancer.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get the gist— To understand the central, essential, or general matter of something, such as an argument, speech, concept, process, etc., without being proficient in the more specific details. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Just for Laughs Festival (2023)Every July, Montreal hosts one of the largest comedy festivals in the world, the Just For Laughs Festival. Founded in 1983 as a small French-language show (Juste pour rire) comprised of only two nights, in 1985, the organizers opened the stage to English-speaking comedians, paving the way for newcomers like Tonight Show host Jay Leno and sitcom star Jerry Seinfeld to launch their careers. In subsequent years, the organizers extended the festival—today there are more than 1,300 shows and performances, featuring all kinds of comedy as well as juggling and performance art. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sluggishlusk - Means lazy or sluggish. More... phlegmatic - First meant "abounding in phlegm" and now more commonly means "not easily excited; lacking enthusiasm; dull, sluggish"—supposedly the type of character one has from having an overabundance of phlegm. More... sulk - A back-formation of sulky, from obsolete sulke, "sluggish." More... | |