Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, August 7, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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effigy
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Correlative ConjunctionsCorrelative conjunctions, or "paired conjunctions," are sets of conjunctions that are always used together. Like coordinating conjunctions, they join words, phrases, or independent clauses of similar or equal importance and structure. Unlike coordinating conjunctions, they can only join two elements together, no more. What are some of the most common correlative conjunctions? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Wilson "Snowflake" BentleyIn 1885, after attaching a bellows camera to a compound microscope, Bentley became the first known snowflake photographer. He went on to develop a highly successful method of photographing the ephemeral snow crystals on a black velvet backing before they melted. Bentley also collaborated on the article that proposed the idea that no two snowflakes are alike. In 1931, some 2,000 of Bentley's 5,000 snowflake photographs were published in a book titled what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Federal Emergency Declared at Love Canal in New York (1978)In the 1940s and 50s, an abandoned canal in Niagara Falls, New York, became a dumping ground for chemical waste. It was later filled in, and after the land was given to the city of Niagara Falls by the chemical company, houses and an elementary school were built there. By the late 1970s, toxic chemicals had risen to the surface, and residents were found to have a high incidence of chromosome damage. A federal emergency was declared in 1978, and residents were evacuated. What happened to them? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Emil Nolde (1867)Nolde was a German painter and printmaker. Fervently religious, he often painted supernatural imagery, such as demonic heads and mystic appearances. Impressed by the art he saw on a 1913 expedition to the East Indies, he began to paint brooding landscapes and colorful flowers. As a printmaker, he was noted for his crudely cut, stark black-and-white woodcuts. Though he was an early advocate of the Nazi party, the party condemned his art and forbade him to paint. What did he do instead? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The beauty of the world...has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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hair-splittingly— With extremely minute, unimportant, or imperceptible differences or details. (Used before an adjective.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Marian Days (2020)In 1975, the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix, a Vietnamese religious order, established a new campus in Carthage, Missouri. Marian Days, which the small town of Carthage has hosted since 1977, is a time for Vietnamese Catholics to honor the Mother of Jesus and recognize the protection she offered to refugees. The weekend's events, which include daily Masses, penance ceremonies, benedictions, and religious lectures, lead up to the Saturday celebration, which consists of a parade for the Virgin Mary as well as a fireworks and balloon ceremony. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: luckhapless, happiness - Hapless means one is lacking hap, "good fortune, luck"; the words happy and happiness also have the root "hap." More... happen - Fairly new to English, from hap, "chance, luck," which was borrowed from Old Norse happ. More... fortune - Latin fors, "chance," formed fortuna, "that which fate brings along," hence fortune, "luck" or "good luck." More... potluck - Comes from the practice of throwing leftovers in a pot—with luck determining how good the stew would taste. More... | |