Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, December 21, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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rectitude
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Past Perfect Continuous TenseThe past perfect continuous tense is used to describe an action that began and was still in progress in the past before another past action started. How does it differ from the past perfect tense? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Celestial SpheresThe concept of a spherical Earth was introduced by the ancient Greeks in the 6th century BCE. Hypotheses about its place in the universe soon followed. Ancient Greek philosophers imagined our motionless planet at the center of the universe, with all the celestial bodies revolving around it in a series of nested, concentric spheres. That theory dominated astronomy until the advent of the Sun-centered Copernican system in the 16th century. According to Aristotle, what moved each planet's sphere? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Marie and Pierre Curie Discover Radium (1898)Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie were working with pitchblende, a heavy mineral known to contain the radioactive element uranium, when they noticed something unusual. Somehow, the pitchblende was more radioactive than the uranium it contained. The culprit was radium, a previously unknown element present in pitchblende only in trace amounts—yet more than a million times more radioactive than uranium. What common household products contained radium until it was discovered to be dangerous? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Frank Zappa (1940)Zappa was a prolific and highly distinctive guitarist, composer, and songwriter. His career spanned more than 30 years and encompassed a variety of genres, including rock, jazz, and classical. He released the groundbreaking double album Freak Out! with the Mothers of Invention in 1966. With its raw sound, sophisticated arrangements, and lyrics praising nonconformity, the album immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music. What unusual names did he give his children? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is not right to glory in the slain.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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scooch over— To move slightly to the side, especially while seated. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Thomas's Day (Episcopal Church) (2023)St. Thomas the Apostle was dubbed "Doubting Thomas" because, after the Resurrection, the other Apostles told him that they had seen Jesus, and he wouldn't believe them until he had touched Jesus' wounds himself. When the Apostles left Jerusalem to preach to the people of other nations, as Jesus had instructed them to do, tradition says Thomas traveled eastward toward India. In Kerala, the smallest state in India, the Malabar Christians claim St. Thomas as the founder of their church. For them, his feast day is a major celebration. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: specializingcreperie - A restaurant specializing in crepes. More... abandannad - A pickpocket specializing in bandannas or handkerchiefs. More... cinematheque - A small movie theater specializing in art or classic films. More... academic press - Also called a university press; a publishing house associated with a university or other scholarly institution, specializing in the publication of scholarly books and journals, particularly works written by its faculty. More... | |