Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, December 4, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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dobbin
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Acronyms and InitialismsAcronyms and initialisms are abbreviations of multiple words using just their initial letters. How are they distinguished from each other? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Vision SerpentIn Maya mythology, the serpent symbolizes rebirth and renewal. Of the serpents, the Vision Serpent is most important, representing a direct link between the spirit realm of the gods and the physical world. It is, therefore, depicted frequently in Maya jewelry, pottery, and architecture. During Maya bloodletting ceremonies, participants experienced visions in which they communicated with ancestors or gods in the form of the Vision Serpent. How is the vision quest performed in modern times? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Edition of the Los Angeles Times Is Published (1881)Established in 1881, the Los Angeles Times was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis. The newspaper prospered and became an influential force in conservative politics in California. Long dominated by the Chandler family, beginning with Otis's son-in-law Harry Chandler, it developed into a model of balanced and comprehensive journalism in the 1960s, with Otis Chandler at the helm, and came to be seen as one of the world's top papers. Why were its offices bombed in 1910? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Samuel Butler (1835)Butler was a British novelist and critic. Descended from clergymen, he grappled for years with Christianity and evolution in his writings, first embracing, then rejecting, Charles Darwin's theories. He is best known for his autobiographical novel The Way of All Flesh. During his lifetime, his reputation rested on the utopian satire Erewhon (1872), which foreshadowed the end of the Victorian illusion of eternal progress. What prediction did Butler make about human evolution? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Exciting literature after supper is not the best digestive.Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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affable personality— A personality that is friendly, approachable, sociable, amicable, and/or likeable. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 River Kwai Bridge Week (2015)River Kwai Bridge Week in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, commemorates World War II's infamous Death Railway and the River Kwai Bridge. Between 1942 and 1945, more than 16,000 Allied prisoners of war and 49,000 Asian laborers were forced by the Japanese to build a railway from Bangkok, Thailand, into Burma (now Myanmar); it is said that one person died for every railway tie on the track. During the week-long festival, the reconstructed bridge (it was bombed during the war) hosts sound-and-light presentations, and there are also historical exhibitions and rides on World War II-era trains. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: knightson one's high horse - At one time, knights, kings, and other VIPs rode on chargers, while ladies and others rode on smaller saddle horses, begetting the phrase "on one's high horse." More... full tilt - Meaning "full speed," it is from the encounter at full gallop of knights in a tilt (lance combat). More... | |