Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, July 28, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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flunky
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Constructing Conditional VerbsConditional verbs are constructions of verbs that are used in conditional sentences. Such verbs are typically formed when a clause in the sentence contains the word "if," and the action of the sentence depends on the condition established by this clause. What type of verb is often used to help indicate the tense and intention of the verbs in the conditional or resulting clause(s)? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Giuseppe MazziniMazzini was an Italian patriot, revolutionist, and an outstanding figure of the Risorgimento, the era of nationalism and activism that led to Italy's unification. In his youth, he devoted himself to literary and philosophical studies and later joined the Carbonari, a secret society with political purposes. He was imprisoned, went into exile, and founded Giovine Italia, a secret society that pushed for a united Italian republic. How did Mazzini's contributions factor into the formation of the EU? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Great Tangshan Earthquake (1976)In July 1976, Wang Chengmin of China's State Seismological Bureau concluded that the Tangshan region would be struck by a significant quake between July 22 and August 5. Based on the prediction, Qinglong County undertook serious emergency preparations, a move that likely limited the number of casualties there when a powerful temblor struck on July 28, destroying hundreds of thousands of buildings and killing as many as 700,000 across Tangshan. What were the political consequences of the quake? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jacques Piccard (1922)Piccard was a Swiss oceanographer and engineer who developed underwater vehicles for studying ocean currents. He came from a family of adventurers, and his father was known for exploratory balloon flights. Together, they developed the bathyscaphe for deep-sea travel. In 1960, Piccard and Don Walsh of the US Navy set a new submarine depth record when they reached the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, a depth of about 35,800 feet (10,912 m). What cut the mission short? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The good befriend themselves.Sophocles (496 BC-406 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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through the grapevine— Through or via an informal means of communication or information, especially gossip. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Antique and Classic Boat Rendezvous (2018)Every July since 1975, classic wooden yachts of pre-1952 vintage have gathered for the annual Antique and Classic Boat Rendezvous at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. More than 50 boats from throughout the Northeast participate each year, making it one of the largest gatherings of its kind. The boats can be viewed at dockside on Friday evening and early on Saturday. Sunday afternoon the vessels begin their colorful parade down the Mystic River to Noank, led by the museum's 84-year-old steamboat, Sabino, with a Dixieland jazz band on board. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: small piececollup - A small piece or slice. More... cover slip - The small piece of thin glass that goes over the specimen on a microscope slide. More... brioche - In French, it literally means "split up into small pieces." More... stamp - Originally meant "crush into small pieces; pound"; its sense of "imprint with design by pressure" came into play in the 16th century—and is the semantic basis of postage stamp. More... | |