Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, February 26, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
clemency
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Defining Conjunctive AdverbsConjunctive adverbs are a specific type of conjunction. Conjunctions are used to join together words, phrases, or clauses. Conjunctive adverbs are specifically used to connect two independent clauses. What is an independent clause? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 The MamluksThe Mamluks were members of a warrior caste that ruled Egypt from about 1250 to 1517. Islamic rulers created the caste by collecting non-Muslim slave boys, grooming them as cavalry soldiers, and converting them to Islam during training. The Mamluks initially served the Ayyubid sultans but grew powerful enough to challenge them and claim the sultanate. Though the Ottomans crushed the Mamluks and took Cairo in 1517, the word "mamluk" lives on in various cultures today. What meanings does it have? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Grand Teton National Park Established (1929)Before US President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating Grand Teton National Park, the National Park Service and homesteaders around Jackson Hole, Wyoming, fought for decades about the best way to preserve the landscape there. Much of the steep Teton Range lies within the boundaries of the park. Its peaks rise above deep valleys, called "holes" by the first white trappers and traders in the area. It has been suggested that early French trappers named the Teton Range after what body part? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Christopher Marlowe (1564)A shoemaker's son, Marlowe attended Cambridge University and then became an actor and dramatist in London. His plays, such as Dr. Faustus and The Jew of Malta, often center on a heroic personality ruined by his own ambition. Most critics hold that the poetic beauty of his language elevates his plays' violence to high art, and many believe that he influenced Shakespeare's work. At 29, he was stabbed to death in a tavern brawl, possibly due to his involvement in what covert activity? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 "My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober."Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
make (someone's) jaw drop— To cause someone to pause in astonishment, awe, or disbelief, especially with their mouth left open. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Kuwait Liberation Day (2022)After Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's troops invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, several countries in the United Nations formed a military coalition—including troops and equipment from the US, France, and Britain—to force them out. Operation Desert Storm began on January 17, 1991, and, for five weeks, US and British air forces relentlessly bombed Baghdad. This was followed by four days of a ground war, which resulted in Hussein's troops leaving Kuwait. February 26 is a national holiday in Kuwait celebrating the end of Iraq's military presence in Kuwait. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: sedimentdecant - Means to pour wine, taking pains not to disturb any sediment at the bottom; decant comes from Latin de- and canthus, "angular lip of a jug." More... allogenic, allochthonous - Geological material that has been transported and then accumulates elsewhere is allochthonous, and sediment carried by a river is allogenic. More... lithification - The process of compaction of sediment into stone. More... | |