Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, July 24, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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anodyne
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Predicate NounsPredicate nouns are a subset of a larger category known as "subject complements," which rename or re-identify the subject. What type of verb do subject complements follow? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Temple InstituteKnown in Hebrew as Machon HaMikdash, the Temple Institute is an organization in Israel focusing on the controversial endeavor of re-establishing the Third Temple—a place of worship desired by Jews since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Although there is disagreement within Orthodox Judaism about whether the rebuilding should occur by human or divine hands, the Temple Institute's long-term goal is to establish the temple on what controversial site? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Eastland Disaster (1915)Launched in 1903, the passenger ship Eastland was plagued with problems from the start. That year alone, the Eastland was damaged after colliding with another ship, and, in an unrelated event, its crew mutinied. Prone to instability and listing, the ship met with disaster in 1915 when it rolled over while still moored to the wharf of the Chicago River, killing more than 840 people shortly after boarding. How did the sinking of the Titanic impact the Eastland disaster? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Alexandre Dumas (1802)Dumas was a largely self-educated French novelist and dramatist whose highly romantic novels immortalizing the adventures of the Three Musketeers and the Count of Monte Cristo have delighted many generations of readers. These historical novels, written with the aid of collaborators, are often scorned by critics, who find them lacking in style and characterization, but they have had enormous popularity. In 2005, Dumas's recently discovered last novel was published. Who wrote its final chapters? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 This soul, or life within us, by no means agrees with the life outside us. If one has the courage to ask her what she thinks, she is always saying the very opposite to what other people say.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be on (one's) best behavior— To be very polite or exercise exceptionally good manners. Primarily heard in US. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Tenjin Matsuri (2018)The Tenjin Festival in Japan honors the scholar and statesman Sugawara Michizane (845-903), who was deified as Tenjin after his death. The festival opens at the Temmangu Shrine with the beating of the Moyooshi Daiko, a drum about five feet in diameter. The drum-cart is followed by a masked figure who represents Sarutahiko, the deity who led all the other gods to Japan. Most important is the mikoshi—the decorated shrine in which the soul of Tenjin is believed to reside. In the evening, the parade moves to the river, with numerous boats carrying glowing lanterns. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: zeroaught - Another word for "nothing, zero." More... zero, cipher - Zero and cipher come from Arabic sifr, "nought, zero," from Sanskrit sunya, "empty." More... lay an egg - The egg in "to lay an egg" refers to "zero." More... googol - Coined when mathematician Edward Kasner asked his nephew to create a word for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. More... | |