Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, April 10, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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scissure
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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"Wh-" Questions"Wh-" questions (or "question word questions") are questions that seek information by posing a question with a "wh-" question word ("who," "what," "where," "when," "why," and "how"). What kind of answer do these questions seek? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Shrine of the BookThe Shrine of the Book is the wing of Jerusalem's Israel Museum that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient documents found between 1947 and 1956 in caves on the Dead Sea's northwest shore, at Qumran. Funded by the family of David Samuel Gottesman, a philanthropist who purchased the scrolls as a gift to Israel, the shrine features an unusual white dome that covers an underground structure. How does the museum ensure that the fragile scrolls survive the rigors of being displayed? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler Escape from Auschwitz-Birkenau (1944)By 1944, transports were arriving daily at Auschwitz, carrying thousands of Jews destined for the gas chambers and crematoria. Prisoners Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler knew that someone had to warn the Jews about what was happening to their deported brethren and alert the world to the atrocities being committed, so they mounted a daring escape and made their way to Slovakia, where they presented a detailed report on the concentration camp to Jewish officials. How did they break out of the camp? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Frances Perkins (1880)Though Perkins was already extraordinarily accomplished by the time she was appointed US Secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, the decision to appoint a woman to the cabinet was bitterly criticized by business and political leaders. In her unusually long 12-year term, Perkins advocated reforms such as a minimum wage, a maximum workweek, and unemployment compensation. She helped develop the Social Security Act of 1935. What book did she write after leaving office? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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me three— humorous An expression of concurrence, agreement, or willingness to participate in addition to others. Said after someone has said "me too" (i.e., "me as well"), thus creating a pun of "too" and "two." More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Salvation Army Founder's Day (2018)April 10 is the day on which William Booth (1829-1912), founder of the international religious and charitable movement known as The Salvation Army, was born in Nottingham, England. With the help of his wife, Catherine, he established the East London Revival Society, which soon became known as the Christian Mission and later The Salvation Army. Although Booth's birthday is observed to varying degrees at Salvation Army outposts around the world, a major celebration was held on the organization's centennial in 1965. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: whirlturbine - Came from Latin turbo, "whirl, whirling thing." More... twirl - May be a blend of twist and whirl. More... warble - Has the underlying notion of "whirling around"; for sounds, it took on the meaning "whirl of notes; trill." More... whorl - A variant of whirl, it first meant "small flywheel." More... | |
| In the News | |
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Octopuses and Squids Can Rewrite Their RNA. Is That Why They're So Smart?When Inky the octopus escaped from his tank at New Zealand's National Aquarium in April 2016, he squirmed through a six-inch-wide drainpipe and stole away into the Pacific. He stole more than a few human hearts along the way, too. Inky fans celebrated ... More... | |