Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, May 14, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
sobriquet
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Reflexive Pronouns as Direct Objects in the Middle VoiceMany middle-voice verbs are transitive verbs and therefore require a direct object in the form of a reflexive pronoun. Without a reflexive pronoun, what happens to the receiver of the action? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 MerkavaThe Merkava series of main battle tanks is developed and manufactured by Israel Military Industries, Ltd for the Israel Defense Forces. It is designed to ensure crew survival, battle perseverance, and quick revival in case of bad damage, though it is still is vulnerable to remotely operated land mines. The heavily shielded engine is placed at the front of the tank, while the crew is able to escape through doors at the rear. When and why did Israel decide to develop the Merkava? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Jamestown, Virginia, Founded (1607)Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. It was founded by the London Company on a peninsula—now an island—in the James River and named after the reigning English monarch, James I. Disease, starvation, and Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more men and supplies. A successfully exported strain of tobacco was cultivated there by a colonist named John Rolfe, who later married what Native American princess? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Pierre Victor Auger (1899)Auger was a French physicist who worked in the fields of nuclear and atomic physics and also advanced the study of cosmic rays. He directed the mathematical and natural sciences department at UNESCO from 1948 to 1959 and was instrumental in creating the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). In 1977, he was made a member of the French Academy of Sciences. The Auger effect as well as the world's largest detector of what are named after him? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 I needed some real danger and some mortal risk to run, to tranquilize me.Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
get in(to) hot water— To provoke or incite anger, hostility, or punishment against oneself; to cause or encounter trouble or difficulty, especially that which will result in punishment or reprisal. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Carabao Festival (2024)The Carabao Festival is a feast in honor of San Isidro Labrador (St. Isidore the Farmer), the patron saint of Filipino farmers, held in Pulilan, Bulacan province, the Philippines. The feast also honors the carabao, or water buffalo, the universal beast of burden of the Philippines. Farmers decorate their carabao with flowers to parade with the image of San Isidro. The festival is also marked by exploding firecrackers and the performance of the Bamboo Dance, where dancers represent the tinikling bird, a menace to the rice crop. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: sailingaloof - Comes from sailing, in which ships keep clear of coastal rocks by holding the vessel "luff"—"to the windward"; so, to hold "a-luff" means to "keep clear." More... jibe - Meaning "be compatible, consistent," it may come from the earlier jibe, "to shift a sail from side to side while sailing in the wind." More... plain sailing - Probably comes from plane sailing, a way of determining a ship's position based on its moving on a plane (flat surface). More... aback - Originated in sailing, as a ship was taken aback when a strong gust of wind suddenly blew the sails back against the mast, causing the ship to stop momentarily. More... | |