Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, August 9, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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garrulity
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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NominalizationNominalization refers to the creation of a noun from verbs or adjectives. Most of the time, nouns are created from other parts of speech through the use of suffixes. In other cases, "conversion" or "zero derivation" are used. How do these methods work? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 HinniesBred as work animals for at least 3,000 years because of their ability to withstand harsh conditions, mules are the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. The less common cross of a female donkey and a male horse is called a hinny. Hinnies are more horselike in appearance than mules, but are often considered inferior. Like mules, they are sterile, since their uneven number of chromosomes results in an incomplete reproductive system. Why are hinnies rarer than mules? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 "Fat Man" Detonated over Nagasaki, Japan (1945)During WWII, Nagasaki became the target of the second atomic bomb ever detonated on a populated area. Three days after the US dropped a uranium bomb on Hiroshima, a more powerful plutonium device, code-named "Fat Man," was dropped on Nagasaki. Approximately 40,000 people were killed outright, and a total of 75,000 were killed or wounded. More than a third of the city was devastated. The necessity of the attack is still debated. The "Fat Man" was supposedly named after a character in what film? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jean Piaget (1896)Regarded as the foremost developmental psychologist of the 20th century, Piaget developed a theory of "genetic epistemology," a natural timetable for the development of the child's ability to think, in which he traced four stages—the sensorimotor (ages 0–2), preoperational or symbolic (2–7), concrete operational (7–12), and formal operational (12 and up)—each marked by increased cognitive sophistication and ability to use symbols. What specific developments occur in each stage? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its office-holders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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freak of nature— Something or someone that is unusual, rare, or abnormal in some way; beyond or outside the natural world. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Meyboom (2019)One of the oldest folk traditions in Belgium, Meyboom is an amalgamation of Belgian folklore and neighborhood rivalry. The first celebration took place in 1208. The event is marked with a procession of giant puppets and the planting of a meyboom (may tree) on the corner of Rue des Sables and Rue du Marais in Brussels. Before the planting, a procession of trumpeters and costumed giants accompanies the tree from the Place des Sablons to its final destination. According to custom, if the meyboom is not planted by 5:00 p.m., the city's good fortune will go to the people of Leuven. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mechanismmechanical pencil - Pushes graphite out by a mechanism such as a spring or a screw. More... pinwheel - Originally a mechanism in a clock. More... gadget - May come from French gachette, which is or has been applied to various pieces of mechanism, or from Gaget, the person who created the first so-called gadgets—miniature Statues of Liberty sold in Paris—or from a Navy term for a tool or mechanical device for which one could not recall the name. More... rack, pinion - Rack is the linear gear and pinion is the circular gear in a mechanism. More... | |