Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, July 6, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
stepwise
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Past Perfect TenseThe past perfect tense expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past. What else can it show? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Prayer RopeSimilar to the Catholic rosary, a prayer rope is a loop of complex knots used by Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics to track the number of times they have recited a certain prayer, generally one known as the Jesus Prayer. In some churches, reciting the Jesus Prayer a specific number of times can, when necessary, replace certain worship services. For example, instead of reading the entire Psalter, a worshipper might recite the short prayer how many thousands of times? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Explosion and Fire Destroy Piper Alpha Drilling Platform (1988)Piper Alpha was a North Sea oil production platform operated by Occidental Petroleum that sank into the sea after a series of explosions and a massive fire, killing 167 men. Only 59 of the workers survived. The initial blast is believed to have resulted from the activation of a pump that was missing a safety valve. A poorly planned evacuation process exacerbated the disaster. Why did nearby platforms continue to pump gas and oil to Piper Alpha after it was engulfed in flames? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Annette Kellerman (1887)Kellerman was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville and film star, and writer. Her 1907 performance of "water ballet" is often credited with popularizing the sport of synchronized swimming. Kellerman was also known for advocating the right of women to wear one-piece bathing suits and was once famously arrested for indecency for doing so herself. In 1908, a Harvard University professor named her the "Perfect Woman" because of the similarity of her physical attributes to what figure? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
flip (one's) wig— To react to something, good or bad, with strong emotion. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 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 | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: leanextenuate - Comes from the Latin verb extenuare, "make thin or lean," and originally meant "to treat as of small importance, make light of." More... macilent - Means "lean, thin" or "shriveled," i.e. lacking in substance. More... recubation, recumb - Recubation is reclining in a near-horizontal position; to recumb is to "lean, recline, rest." More... streaky - Describes bacon with alternating strips of fat and lean. More... | |