Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, July 1, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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befuddle
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Conditional VerbsConditional verbs are used in conditional sentences, which express something that might happen, depending on whether or not a particular condition is met. To denote such a condition, what word is commonly used with one of the verbs in a conditional sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 NeurogenesisThe human nervous system is composed of some 200 billion cells called neurons, about half of which are found in the brain. Neurogenesis, the process through which neurons are formed, is most active during prenatal development. Though early neuroanatomists believed that the adult nervous system is fixed and incapable of regeneration, neurogenesis actually continues throughout life. Studies have shown that lack of sleep reduces neurogenesis and exercise increases it. How is it affected by stress? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Sony Introduces the Walkman (1979)Sony's first truly portable cassette player, the Walkman, was originally developed for a company chairman who wanted to be able to listen to music on long plane rides. He was impressed, and less than a year later, the revolutionary device hit the market. Sales soon exploded, cementing the Walkman's place in pop culture. It remained popular throughout the 1990s, before CDs and mp3s supplanted cassettes. Who invented the portable personal stereo cassette player years before the Walkman's debut? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646)Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician who greatly expanded the field of calculus. He also perfected the binary number system—the basis for modern computing—and constructed one of the first practical calculators. A jack-of-all-trades, Leibniz worked on mechanical devices, delved into the study of logic, was a historian and lawyer at times, and is considered one of the fathers of geology. In the early 1700s, he became embroiled in a controversy with Isaac Newton over what issue? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 You think that you are Ann's suitor; that you are the pursuer and she the pursued; that it is your part to woo, to persuade, to prevail, to overcome. Fool: it is you who are the pursued, the marked-down quarry, the destined prey.George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hoist by (one's) own petard— To be injured, ruined, or defeated by one's own action, device, or plot that was intended to harm another; to have fallen victim to one's own trap or schemes. (Note: "hoist" in this instance is the simple past-tense of the archaic form of the verb, "hoise.") More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Somalia Independence Day (2020)Somalia became an independent, unified country on July 1, 1960. In colonial times, Somalia was divided up between Britain and Italy. The northern part of the region was British Somaliland, and other areas belonged to Italy. On July 1, 1960, both areas were united as the Republic of Somalia. Since a government overthrow in 1991, however, the country has disintegrated into the Republic of Somaliland and the Republic of Puntland, neither of which is recognized by what is left of the Republic of Somalia, represented by the transitional national government established in October 2000. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: magicianmagus - A person regarded as having great wisdom or powers likened to those of a magician. More... archimage - A great magician, from Greek archi-, "chief, principal," and Latin magus, "magician." More... fascinate, fascinator - Fascinate is derived from Latin fascinare, "to bewitch or enchant," and a fascinator was a magician. More... mage, magian - Mage and magian are two other ways to say magician. More... | |