Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, January 22, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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yesteryear
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Exclamation PointsAn exclamation point or exclamation mark ( ! ) is a punctuation mark commonly used to express strong, intense emotions in declarations. When is an exclamation point in parentheses used in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SuperfluidWith the lowest melting and boiling points of any known substance, helium—alone among the elements—will not solidify even as its temperature approaches absolute zero. Instead, it takes on extremely unusual physical properties, as physicists discovered in 1937. It becomes a superfluid. With zero entropy, zero viscosity, and extremely high thermal conductivity, superfluid helium can overcome friction to climb out of an open jar. What does superfluid helium do if placed in a rotating container? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 After 16 Years of Terrorizing New York City, Mad Bomber Arrested (1957)Known as the Mad Bomber, George P. Metesky terrorized New York City for 16 years in the 1940s and 1950s with dozens of explosive devices that he planted in terminals, libraries, offices, phone booths, storage lockers, and restrooms in public buildings. He also bombed movie theaters by hiding his bombs within the upholstery of the seats. Metesky planted at least 33 bombs, and despite the fact that he often placed warning calls in advance of his bombings, 15 people were injured. Why did he do it? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sir Francis Bacon (1561)Bacon was a British statesman and philosopher widely regarded as the father of modern scientific method. His elaborate classification of the sciences inspired the 18th-century French Encyclopedists, and his empiricism inspired 19th-century British philosophers of science. Bacon began his public career as a member of Parliament, later serving as attorney general and lord chancellor. However, his career as a public servant ended when he was convicted and briefly imprisoned in 1621 for what crime? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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circle the drain— To be in a state of severe deterioration such that one is approaching inevitable ruin, failure, or death. Usually used in the continuous form. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Vincent's Day (2024)São Vicente St. Vincent of Saragossa is the patron saint of Lisbon, Portugal. In Lisbon, people celebrate his feast day with processions and prayers. But in the surrounding rural areas, there are a number of folk traditions associated with this day. Farmers believe that by carrying a resin torch to the top of a high hill on January 22, they can predict what the coming harvest will be like. If the wind extinguishes the flame, the crops will be abundant; if the torch continues to burn, a poor growing season lies ahead. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: objectivelimited war - A war whose objective is of smaller scope than total defeat of the enemy. More... institution - First a noun of action or process that became a general and abstract noun describing something objective and systematic. More... purposely, purposefully - Purposely means "intentionally, on purpose," while purposefully means "with a specific purpose or objective in mind." More... safe, secure - Safe and secure, now nearly synonymous, used to be more different; secure was subjective—man's own sense of the absence of danger—while safe was objective, the fact of such absence of danger. More... | |