Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, January 13, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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sibylline
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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EllipsesAn ellipsis is a series of three consecutive periods known as ellipsis points ( . . . ) used to indicate where words have been omitted from quoted text. When are brackets placed around ellipses? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Improvised Explosive DevicesFabricated from all manner of munitions and triggering mechanisms—both military and nonmilitary—improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are bombs that are deployed using methods other than those of conventional military action. Though IEDs have been used in conflicts throughout the world, the term is now commonly associated with the Iraq War due to the extensive use of such devices by insurgents. During the Vietnam War, what common household items were used in conjunction with grenades to form IEDs? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Black Friday Fires in Victoria, Australia (1939)One of Australia's worst natural disasters took place in January 1939, when bushfires broke out in the state of Victoria. Over the course of several days, fires burned nearly 5 million acres of land, killing 71 people, destroying thousands of homes and businesses, and ravaging entire towns. An extremely hot and dry summer had preceded the fires, and the day they broke out, temperatures in Melbourne soared to a record 114.1 °F (45.6 °C). How long was it before the city had a hotter day than that? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sophie Tucker (1884)Tucker was a Russian-born American singer and entertainer who began performing vaudeville as a child, singing ragtime melodies in blackface. She later abandoned the makeup but continued in the African-American style, helping popularize the songs of black composers. Known for her racy songs, she enjoyed great success on tour and went on to appear in several stage and movie musicals but was best known as a nightclub torch singer. In her later years, she was billed under what moniker? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?James Madison (1751-1836) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a (real) frog-choker— A particularly heavy or torrential downpour of rain. (Chiefly heard in the southern United States.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Mela Maghi (2019)Guru Gobind Singh and his Khalsa, a defense militia of "soldier-saints" he formed, were attacked by the Mughal army at Anandpur. It is said that 40 of his close followers joined the Guru at Muktsar, where they gave their lives in the Battle of Muktsar in December 1705. Maghi is a day for honoring these men, who are now known as the Forty Immortals. Sikhs in India and elsewhere observe the holiday by visiting their local gurdwara (house of worship) and listening to the recitation of sacred hymns. The observance is particularly solemn at Muktsar, where the slaughter occurred. 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... | |