Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, December 3, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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opine
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Demonstrative PronounsDemonstrative pronouns are pronouns used to replace nouns or noun phrases in a sentence, representing that which is nearby or far away in space or time. Because demonstrative pronouns are less specific than the nouns or noun phrases they replace, what must be used for clarity? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 VentriloquismVentriloquism is the art of projecting one's voice in such a way that the sound seems to come from a source other than the speaker, often a dummy or doll whose mouth is moved by the ventriloquist. Dating to ancient times, ventriloquism was initially associated with divination and only evolved into a performance art around the 16th century. It later developed through Vaudeville into the comedic style common today. How do ventriloquists mimic sounds that require the lips to be pressed together? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Who Riverfront Coliseum Stampede (1979)After starting out as The High Numbers, British rock band The Who gained international fame in the 1960s and 70s with songs like "My Generation," "Pinball Wizard," and "Won't Get Fooled Again." The band's incredibly loud concerts and penchant for destroying their instruments onstage boosted their appeal to rock fans, but offstage destruction overshadowed the music on December 3, 1979, when a stampede prior to The Who's show at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio, killed how many fans? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Joseph Conrad (1857)Before becoming a novelist, Conrad lived an adventurous life at sea. He later fictionalized many of his experiences in novels that combine realism and high drama. Though he knew little English before he was 20, Conrad became one of the greatest novelists and prose stylists in English literature. Marked by a distinctive, rich prose, many of his novels are considered masterpieces, but he is perhaps best known for the novella Heart of Darkness. What were some of Conrad's real-life escapades? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.Henry James (1843-1916) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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heavy lifting— Any serious, difficult, or arduous work or activities. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 International Day of Disabled Persons (2023)The years 1983-92 marked the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons, a period during which great strides were made in raising awareness and enacting laws to improve the situation of individuals with disabilities. At the conclusion of this 10-year observance, December 3 was proclaimed the International Day of Disabled Persons. The UN General Assembly appealed to its members to observe this day with activities and events designed to promote the advantages of integrating disabled persons into every area of social, economic, and political life. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: measuringcord - An amount of wood containing 128 cubic feet (4x4x8 feet); the name comes from the old practice of measuring a stack of firewood with a cord of a certain length. To cord is to stack or put up wood in cords. More... drosometer - An instrument for measuring the amount of dew on a surface. More... isometric - From Latin isus, "equal," and -metria, "measuring." More... Mach - The scale measuring the speed of an object or fluid relative to the speed of sound is named for philosopher/physicist Ernst Mach (1838-1916), who researched thermodynamics; Mach is the ratio of the speed of something to the speed of sound in the surrounding medium. More... | |