Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, February 28, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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rabid
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining the Perfective AspectThe perfective aspect highlights actions, states, or events as a whole, presenting the actions from an outside perspective as complete, bounded events. In which tenses is the perfective aspect encountered? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Chang and Eng BunkerThe term "Siamese twins" originated with conjoined twin brothers Chang and Eng Bunker, who were born in 1811 in Siam, which is now Thailand. After touring with P. T. Barnum's circus for many years, they settled in North Carolina and married two sisters: Chang to Adelaide Yates and Eng to Sarah Anne Yates. The two fathered a total of 22 children and died within hours of each other in 1874. Would the Bunker brothers have been able to be separated using today's surgical techniques? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme Is Assassinated (1986)Palme served as prime minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and from 1982 to 1986. In 1971, he led Sweden's rejection of a bid for membership in the European Community. A pacifist, he criticized US policy in the Vietnam War, creating a diplomatic rift that ended in 1974. Palme also opposed the nuclear arms race and South African apartheid. He was assassinated in 1986, and his murder remains unsolved. What did US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger reportedly say about his relationship with Palme? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Dinah Shore (1916)Shore was an American singer, actress, and TV personality who enjoyed widespread popularity during the Big Band era of the 1940s and 50s. She was the first singer of the era to achieve success as a solo artist, producing over 80 hit songs, including "Baby It's Cold Outside," before beginning a four-decade career in television. Shore was a hit with TV audiences as well and went on to earn nine Emmys, a Peabody Award, and a Golden Globe. How did Shore, born Frances Rose, earn the stage name Dinah? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 When you've learned to laugh at the things that should be laughed at, and not to laugh at those that shouldn't, you've got wisdom and understanding.Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have (someone's) number on it— To be considered the agent or instrument of one's fate, especially leading to death. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Leap Year Day (2024)The Earth actually takes longer than 365 days to complete its trip around the Sun—five hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds longer, to be precise. To accommodate this discrepancy, an extra day is added to the Gregorian calendar at the end of February every four years. The year in which this occurs is called Leap Year, probably because the English courts did not always recognize February 29, and the date was often "leaped over" in the records. There was an old tradition that women could propose marriage to men during Leap Year. The men had to pay a forfeit if they refused. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: markingpastry wheel, pastry jagger - A pastry wheel or pastry jagger is a handled tool with a thin sharp wheel, used for marking and cutting rolled-out dough. More... stocking - A white marking on the lower part of a horse's leg. More... on the dot - Probably a reference to the minute hand of the clock being exactly over the dot marking the given minute on the dial. More... hilum - The scar on a seed marking the point where it was attached to its seed vessel. More... | |