Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, February 16, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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spellbound
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adjectival AdjunctsAdjectival adjuncts are just adjectives that come immediately before the noun they describe. What are they are more commonly referred to as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Fatal HilarityPeople can and do die of laughter. The 3rd century BCE philosopher Chrysippus, for example, is said to have laughed himself to death while watching the antics of a drunken donkey. In 1410, Martin I of Aragon succumbed to a combination of indigestion and uncontrollable laughter. More recently, a UK man died of heart failure after laughing for 25 minutes at a TV show featuring a Scotsman in a kilt battling a vicious black pudding. What other historical figures have died from laughter? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Ash Wednesday Fires (1983)In 1983, extreme weather and years of severe drought combined to create one of Australia's worst fire days in a century. Within 12 hours, more than 180 fires—fanned by high winds—were burning, causing widespread destruction across the states of Victoria and South Australia. The fires killed 75 people and left thousands of others injured and homeless. They obliterated entire townships in just minutes. This series of fires was the deadliest bushfire event in Australian history until what disaster? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (1935)Bono was an American record producer, singer, actor, and politician. He began his music career working with legendary producer Phil Spector in the early 1960s and went on to write, arrange, and produce a number of hit singles like "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On," which he performed with his then-wife Cher. The duo also hosted a popular television variety show in the 1970s. Later, Bono became involved in politics and served as a member of the US House of Representatives. How did he die? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willingly avoids the sight of distress.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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not have a hope in hell (of doing something)— To not have any chance at all of doing or achieving something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Kamakura Matsuri (2024)Kamakura Matsuri is held in northern Japan in the Akita Prefecture, at the time of year when there is usually deep snow on the ground. In Yokote and other towns of the region, children build Kamakura, snow houses that resemble igloos. They furnish the huts with tatami mats and a wooden altar dedicated to Suijin-sama and have parties in them, while families gather to drink sweet sake and eat rice cakes and fruits. The rice cakes are made in the shape of cranes and turtles, traditional symbols of longevity, and of dogs called inukko, thought to guard against devils. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: lightningnimbostratus cloud - Can drop precipitation but has no lightning or thunder. More... artillery - A poetic term for thunder and lightning. More... coup de foudre - A sudden unforeseen event or instantaneous and overwhelming passion, such as love at first sight; it is French, literally, "stroke of lightning." More... lightning - Etymologically, lightning is simply something that illuminates or "lightens" the sky, a contraction of the earlier "lightening." More... | |