Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, July 6, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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exiguity
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Ending a Sentence with a PrepositionNearly every grammar guide agrees that it is acceptable and often more correct to end a sentence with a dangling preposition than to rewrite the sentence specifically to avoid it. Why? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Buddhas of BamyanOnce the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world, the Buddhas of Bamyan were two monumental statues carved into the side of a cliff in Afghanistan's Bamyan Valley. Built during the 6th century, the statues were destroyed in 2001 by the Islamist Taliban government, which decreed that the figures were idolatrous and bombarded them with dynamite and tank barrages for nearly a month. The Afghan government has since proposed that the statues be recreated using what technologies? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Jan Hus Is Burned at the Stake (1415)A Bohemian religious reformer, Hus was excommunicated in 1411 after taking a stand in the power struggle among the three figures claiming to be pope of the Catholic Church. He continued to preach, but his criticism led to a case of heresy against him, and he was invited to the Council of Constance to explain his views. Though promised safe conduct to the council, he was arrested, tried for heresy, and burned at the stake. What seemingly prescient thing did Hus do before traveling to Constance? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John Paul Jones (1747)One of the greatest heroes of the US Navy, Jones emigrated from Scotland at the start of the American Revolution. In 1779, while commanding the Bonhomme Richard, he engaged the British Serapis in battle. With his ship on fire and sinking, he answered a call to surrender by saying, "I have not yet begun to fight!" Eventually, the crew of the badly damaged Serapis surrendered, and Jones and his men boarded her. Where were Jones's remains—lost for over a century—found in 1905? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The first duty of a lecturer—to hand you after an hour's discourse a nugget of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks, and keep on the mantelpiece forever.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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great cry and little wool— A great deal of fuss, noise, fanfare, or protestation over something of little or no substance, importance, or relevance. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Great Schooner Race (2018)The Great Schooner Race is held off the shore of Rockland, Maine. Since 1977 the race has featured schooners from the Maine Windjammer Association and a number of other large sailing ships—usually 25 to 30 in all. The race begins at Isleboro Island and ends in Rockland, where the boats parade through Penobscot Bay. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: wheelsgurney - A stretcher with wheels. More... axel, axle - Axel is the figure-skating jump; axle is the pin or rod between two wheels. More... dry steering - The act of turning the wheels of a car that is not moving. More... three-point landing - An aircraft landing in which the two wheels of the main landing gear and the tail or nose wheel touch the ground simultaneously. More... | |
| In the News | |
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That Time a City Scared Itself Silly over a Total Solar EclipseIn October 1976, a total solar eclipse engulfed southern Australia and the city of Melbourne in darkness. Roving eclipse seekers and local astronomy fans welcomed the shadow. Robin Hirst, an astronomy lecturer at the University of Melbourne's State ... More... | |