Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, March 27, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Questions Beginning with "wh-" WordsWe often encounter dangling prepositions when a "wh-" word (such as "who" or "what") is used to begin a question. Why? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Wilhelm ScreamOften used when a character is plummeting to his death, the Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect that has been featured in over a hundred films, television shows, and video games since it was first used in the 1951 film Distant Drums. The tradition of inserting the sound into films began when Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt tracked down the original recording—a studio reel labeled "man being eaten by alligator"—and named the sound effect after whom? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Tenerife Disaster (1977)The Tenerife Disaster was a passenger plane accident that resulted in the highest number of fatalities of any single accident in aviation history, excluding ground fatalities. It occurred when two Boeing 747s, a KLM flight in the midst of takeoff and a PanAm flight taxing in the opposite direction, collided at Los Rodeos Airport on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people. What bombing led both planes to be diverted to the Tenerife airport in the first place? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886)A pioneer of modern architecture and one of its most influential figures, German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was famous for his use of the minimalist architectural dictum "less is more." As a young architect in Berlin, he foreshadowed modern architecture with innovative designs for tubular-steel furniture and steel-and-glass skyscrapers, and countless modernist steel-and-glass structures have been influenced by his work. Mies was also known for using what other famous aphorism? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Live, and be happy, and make others so.Mary Shelley (1797-1851) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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dead last— In last place, especially by a wide margin, as for a race or other competition. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Myanmar Armed Forces Day (2023)Throughout most of the 1800s, the Union of Myanmar, known as Burma until 1989, was ruled by the British. Aung San, an outspoken student leader, helped the Japanese oust the British, and the Japanese ruled Burma from 1942 until 1945. On March 27, 1945, he helped the World War II Allied forces remove the Japanese from power. Myanmar celebrates Armed Forces Day on March 27 to commemorate the day that Aung San rebelled against the Japanese. The day is celebrated with a military parade and fireworks. Since 1989, the Tatmadaw has made it a tradition to pardon several prisoners on this day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: soldierbombardier - First denoted a soldier in charge of a bombard, an early form of cannon. More... functional shift - The process by which words change parts of speech without the addition of a prefix or suffix, as in soldier on, the verb, being created from soldier, the noun. More... guerrilla, gorilla - Guerrilla is from a Spanish diminutive of guerra, "war," and refers to a soldier of an independent armed resistance force; gorilla is the ape. More... | |