Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, February 9, 2020)Word of the Day | |||||||
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cutpurse
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Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Types of Stative VerbsStative verbs (also known as state verbs) are verbs that describe a static condition, situation, or state of being. Linking verbs are usually used as stative verbs; these include the verb "be" and the verbs of the senses. What other verbs are considered stative? More... |
Article of the Day | |
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Messinian Salinity CrisisAbout 5.6 million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic Ocean, likely due to tectonic shifts that closed the Strait of Gibraltar. For thousands of years afterward, the Mediterranean evaporated away, becoming saltier and leaving massive deposits of salt and minerals on the sea bed until the sea had disappeared. The straight was reopened and the sea refilled during a massive flood 500,000 years later. Today, the sea is still saltier than the Atlantic Ocean. Why? More... |
This Day in History | |
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William G. Morgan Invents Volleyball (1895)William G. Morgan invented volleyball in Holyoke, Massachusetts, just four years after basketball was invented in the neighboring town of Springfield. Morgan, a physical education director, created "Mintonette" for older athletes who wanted to play indoor sports but deemed basketball too rough. The name volleyball came from the nature of the game: "volleying" a ball back and forth over a net. Players can also "spike" the ball and drive it downward into the opponents' court. What is a "pancake"? More... |
Today's Birthday | |
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Gerhard Richter (1932)Richter is considered one of the foremost German artists of the post-World War II period, indeed one of the foremost artists in the world, and the prices his works fetch at auction reflect this distinction. Unwilling to settle on any one medium or approach, Richter paints, photographs, draws, and sculpts and has varied his style from austere photorealism to satirical pop to minimalism to pure abstraction. This fluidity is interpreted by some as a reaction to the early training he received where? More... |
Quotation of the Day | |
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Reason itself is true and just, but the reason of every particular man is weak and wavering, perpetually swayed and turned by his interests, his passions, and his vices. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) |
Idiom of the Day | |
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backpedal— To quickly and often abruptly reverse or retreat from one's position or opinion on a given subject. Refers to pedaling backwards on a bicycle (done to apply the brakes on fixed-gear bikes), or to taking quick, backward steps, as in football or boxing. More... |
Today's Holiday | |
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St. Maron's Day (2023)St. Maron (also spelled St. Maroun), the patron saint of Lebanon, was a monk who died in 410 CE. The Feast of St. Maron, as it is known in Lebanon, does not have the cultural significance for its citizens that it had in past eras—today, Maronites only make up one-quarter of the Lebanese population (between one-half and one million). In Lebanon and abroad, the most common ceremony of the feast day is the Maronite liturgy, which is a distinctive blend of Catholic doctrine, Arabic music, and singing in Syriac-Aramaic, a classical language that was spoken by Jesus. More... |
Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: spinacha la Florentine - Means with spinach. More... leaf vegetables - Include cabbage and Romaine lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, endive, and cress. More... rainbow rotelle - A combination of tomato, spinach, and regular twirl-shaped pasta in the colors of the Italian flag. More... spinach - May come from Persian aspanakh/ispanak, perhaps related to the Latin spina, "spine," because of its prickly seeds. More... |