Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, July 16, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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comeuppance
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Negative Declarative SentencesNot all declarative sentences are straightforward statements of positive fact—there are a few variations that express slightly different information, while still remaining declarative in nature. In negative declarative sentences (or simply "negative sentences"), what two words can be used to make information negative? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 King Philip's WarKing Philip's War was, proportionately, one of the bloodiest and costliest conflicts in America's history. By 1660, New England settlers had pushed into Native American territory in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. To protect their lands, Wampanoag chief Metacom—also known as King Philip—organized a federation of tribes, which destroyed several frontier settlements in 1675. In retaliation, the colonial militia burned villages and crops. How many people died in the conflict? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 World's First Parking Meter Installed (1935)The parking meter was invented in 1935 by Carl C. Magee in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The first meter was installed there later that year, guaranteeing drivers a parking space for an amount of purchased time. Used until the 1980s, Magee's original design had a coin acceptor, a dial, and a visible flag indicating the expiration of paid time. Reverend C.H. North was the first person in the US to get a parking ticket because of an expired meter. What happened when he disputed his ticket in court? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (1872)Amundsen was a Norwegian polar explorer who led the first expeditions to traverse the Northwest Passage and to reach the South Pole. Turning to air exploration, in 1926 he and Umberto Nobile succeeded in flying over the North Pole and unexplored regions of the Arctic Ocean in a dirigible built and piloted by Nobile. A bitter controversy followed with Nobile as to the credit for the success. Yet in 1928, when Nobile crashed a different dirigible, Amundsen launched a rescue mission. What happened? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it—namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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not your father's— Very modern or updated; no longer what an older generation would expect or be used to. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Pilgrimage of Saut d'Eau (2018)The pilgrimage to the church in Ville-Bonheur, Haiti, combines both Christian and Voodoo beliefs. There is a sacred grove just outside Ville-Bonheur where, according to legend, the Virgin Mary once appeared on top of a palm tree. At this holy place, known as Saut d'Eau (waterfall), two waterfalls tumble from a precipice more than 100 feet high to create a kind of natural cathedral. This is the home of Damballah-wedo and other African deities who play a part in Voodoo. Some worshipers tie colored cords to the sacred trees at the foot of the falls, while others bathe in the water. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: stealembezzle - Originally, it simply meant "steal." More... purloin - Meaning to steal, it is from Latin pur/pro, "forth," and loign, "far." More... scrounge - First meant to live off or sponge off someone else; it is a variant of scrunge, "steal." More... snoop - From Dutch snoepen, "eat on the sly," it first meant "steal and eat in a clandestine manner." More... | |
| In the News | |
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The koalas are threatened. Can their genome help us save them?The koala is an unusual creature. Native to Australia and a bit bigger than a raccoon, it spends most of its time in eucalyptus trees, gorging on leaves that are toxic to nearly every other animal on the planet. The koala sleeps about 22 hours a day ... More... | |