Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, October 9, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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balladeer
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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MoodGrammatical mood refers to the way in which a verb is used to express certain meaning by the speaker or writer. Moods are broken down into two main categories. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Old Summer PalaceKnown in China as the Gardens of Perfect Clarity, the Old Summer Palace was a complex of palaces and gardens built in the 18th and early 19th centuries near the walls of Beijing. Hundreds of invaluable Chinese art masterpieces and antiquities were stored in its halls, making the Imperial Gardens one of the largest museums in the world. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, British and French troops looted and destroyed the gardens. Why have the Chinese decided not to rebuild the complex? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Landslide in Italy Claims More Than 2,000 Lives (1963)One of the highest dams in the world, the Vaiont Dam was constructed on the Vaiont River about 60 mi (100 km) north of Venice, Italy. Two years after its completion, a massive landslide fell into its reservoir, causing the stored water to spill over the dam, sweeping away the village of Longarone and flooding several nearby towns. Some 2,000 people drowned. The dam itself surprisingly remained intact. In 2008, who cited the disaster as one of five "cautionary tales" for engineers and geologists? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ruth Ellis (1926)Ellis has the notorious distinction of being the last woman executed in the UK. In 1955, a jury took just 14 minutes to convict her of murdering her lover, racecar driver David Blakely. The two had had a volatile relationship, and Ellis had previously suffered a miscarriage as a result of a punch to the stomach from Blakely, but this mattered little after she admitted openly in court that she had shot him with the intention of killing him. In what film does Ellis have an uncredited cameo? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Though home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit answered to, in strongest conjuration.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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(as) sick as a parrot— Thoroughly displeased, disappointed, or dejected (about something). Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Uganda Independence Day (2018)This national holiday commemorates Uganda's independence from Britain on this day in 1962, after 70 years of British rule. Uganda became a republic in 1963 on its one-year independence anniversary. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: knightesquire - At its root, it means "shield bearer (in service to a knight)," from Latin scutarius. More... forget-me-nots - May have gotten their name from the last words of a knight who drowned while trying to pick these flowers by a riverside. More... heart on one's sleeve - Comes from chivalry, when a knight wore a scarf or other item from his lady tied to his sleeve. More... | |
| In the News | |
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Apes Might Be Able to Tell What You're ThinkingOne of the things that defines humans most is our ability to read others' minds -- that is, to make inferences about what others are thinking. To build or maintain relationships, we offer gifts and services -- not arbitrarily, but with the recipient's ... More... | |