Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, April 6, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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runoff
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Commonly Paired Adjectives and PrepositionsThere are no definite rules when it comes to combining adjectives with prepositions. What is the best way to learn correct adjective and preposition combinations? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Knockout MiceBecause mice are so closely related to humans—relative to other common lab animals—they are particularly suited for investigations of human genetics. Researchers today rely heavily on "knockout mice," mice that have been bred with one or more genes intentionally switched off. Millions of these mice are used each year in studies of aging, cancer, obesity, and other conditions. So prized are they that some strains of knockout mice have even been patented. When was the first knockout mouse created? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Hostess Twinkies Are Invented (1930)The Twinkie was invented by baker James Dewar, who noticed that the shop's shortcake pans were only used during the strawberry season and otherwise sat idle. His thrifty idea to use the pans during the off-season led to the development of the banana-filled Twinkie snack cake. During a World War II banana shortage, vanilla filling replaced the original banana. Twinkies disappeared from US shelves in 2012 when Hostess declared bankruptcy but returned in 2013. What is the "Twinkie defense"? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan (1927)Mulligan was an important baritone saxophonist and one of the best-known exponents of cool jazz, a delicate, understated offshoot of bebop. He began his career in the mid-1940s as an arranger for Gene Krupa and Claude Thornhill and played on the historic Miles Davis nonet recordings in 1949. He gained considerable success with the quartet he formed with Chet Baker in 1952, and he led ensembles of various sizes thereafter. Mulligan served jail time after he was arrested in 1953 for what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil.Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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high muckety-muck— slang An especially important, influential, and authoritative person, especially someone who is overbearingly or arrogantly so. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Chakri Day (2025)Chakri Day is a national holiday in Thailand to commemorate the enthronement of Rama I, who founded the Chakri Dynasty in 1782. He was born Chao Phraya Chakri in 1737 and had become Thailand's leading general when a palace coup took place in Thon Buri. The dynasty he established has headed the country to this day, although the end of absolute monarchy came in 1932. The king was given the title Rama after his death. Ceremonies on April 6 honor his deeds and the founding of Bangkok as the capital. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tiredlanguescent - If you are becoming tired, you are languescent. More... irk - Originally meant "grow tired"; a possible source is Old Norse yrkja, "work." More... lassate - Means tired or weary. More... late - Comes from Indo-European lad-, "slow, weary," which begat Latin lassus, "tired," before English late, meaning "slow." More... | |