Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, December 13, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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ballyhoo
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Predicate NounsNouns that follow linking verbs are known as predicate nouns (sometimes known as predicative nouns). These serve to rename or re-identify the subject. If the noun is accompanied by any direct modifiers (such as articles, adjectives, or prepositional phrases), the entire noun phrase acts in what way? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 OcherAmong the earliest pigments used by mankind, ocher has a yellow-orange to orange color and is made of varying proportions of iron oxide and clay. The world's first known works of art, found in South Africa’s Blombos Cave and dated to 75,000 years ago, consist of ocher pieces engraved with abstract designs, and Cro-Magnon artists living about 10,000 to 40,000 years ago used ocher in their cave paintings. The 2nd-century BCE Egyptian Ebers Papyrus lists what non-artistic use for ocher? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Battle of the River Plate (1939)In the early months of World War II, the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee had been seeking out and sinking British merchant ships, a practice known as commerce raiding. The British navy tracked down the German ship and engaged it near the River Plate, in what was the first major naval engagement of the war. Outgunned, the Germans sailed for Montevideo in the hopes of making repairs. Shortly thereafter, the captain, believing his forces to be outnumbered, made what decision? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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.jpg) Talcott Parsons (1902)From 1927 until his retirement in 1974, Parsons, an American sociologist, trained three generations of students at Harvard University. He was known for his attempt to construct a single theoretical framework within which general and specific characteristics of societies could be systematically classified and was largely responsible for introducing the work of Émile Durkheim and Max Weber to American sociologists. Why was Parsons considered one of the most controversial sociologists in the world? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is impossible for good or evil to last for ever; and hence it follows that the evil having lasted long, the good must be now nigh at hand.Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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take a load off (one's feet)— To sit down and rest one's feet; to relax. (Usually said as a suggestion.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Lucy's Day (2024)According to tradition, St. Lucy, or Santa Lucia, was born in Syracuse, Sicily, in the 3rd or 4th century. Her day is widely celebrated in Sweden as Luciadagen, which marks the official beginning of the Christmas season. It is traditional to observe Luciadagen by dressing the oldest daughter in the family in a white robe tied with a crimson sash. Candles are set into her crown, which is covered with lingonberry leaves. The "Lucia Bride" wakes each member of the household on the morning of December 13 with a tray of coffee and special saffron buns or ginger cookies. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: organsconsensus - Came into English in a physiological sense, meaning "a set of organs" or the "involuntary or reflex actions of the nervous system." More... homogenous - Can refer to genetically related tissue or organs. More... lung - Goes back to an Indo-European word for "light," because of the lightness of the organ. More... sensorium - The seat of common sense, the center of the brain to which sense impressions are transmitted by the nerves from the organs. More... | |