Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, March 13, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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protract
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Subordinating ConjunctionsA subordinating conjunction does two things: it introduces and subordinates the dependent clause (telling the reader that it's less important than the independent clause), and it explains what relationship it has to the independent clause. When we use subordinating conjunctions to join two clauses, does it matter which clause comes first? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The HermitageOne of the oldest and largest museums in the world, the Hermitage was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764 but was not opened to the public until nearly a century later. It occupies a complex of historic buildings and palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and is home to more than three million artifacts and works of art—including the largest collection of paintings in the world. In 1985, what bizarre incident befell Rembrandt's painting Danaë, necessitating years of restoration work? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Operation Northwoods Proposed (1962)Operation Northwoods was a plan proposed by the US Department of Defense to generate public support for military action against the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. To this end, it recommended staging acts of simulated or real terrorism and violence on US soil or against US interests and then placing the blame on Cuba. The plan, which was not implemented, was drafted by senior US defense leaders and signed by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Who made the secret document public? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Daniel Lambert (1770)Lambert is famous for having been recognized, in his own time, as the fattest man in England. An active and athletic youth, he began his dramatic weight gain after taking over his father's job as keeper of a prison in Leicester. Though he initially led a quiet life and was well liked by his prisoners, he eventually—and reluctantly—went on tour. By then, he weighed more than 700 pounds (318 kg), and spectators paid a shilling each to see him. What complication arose when he died at Stamford? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The doctrine of innate ideas is one of the most admirable faiths of philosophy, being itself an innate idea and therefore inaccessible to disproof...Among innate ideas may be mentioned the belief...in the greatness of one's country, in the superiority of one's civilization, in the importance of one's personal affairs, and in the interesting nature of one's diseases.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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control freak— Someone who has an obsessive or compulsive need to control every aspect of a situation and/or the ways in which others act. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Kasuga Matsuri (2023)The Kasuga Shrine in Nara is one of the most beautiful and ancient in Japan. Every year on March 13, a festival is held there with elaborate ceremonies and performances that recall the shrine's heyday. The hiki-uma horse ceremony, in which a sacred horse is led in procession through the streets, and the elegant Yamato-mai dance performed by Shinto women are reminiscent of the culture and customs of the Nara and Heian Eras. Construction of the Kasuga Shrine was started during the Nara period (710-784) and was completed in the first years of the Heian period (794-1185). More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: possessionhave - Coming through Proto-Germanic khaben, it was from Indo-European kap-, meaning "possession." More... jouisance - Also spelled jouissance, it is another word for "enjoyment" or "possession or use of something." More... tenement - First meant "holding as a possession." More... white elephant - The name of this animal, which has an enormous appetite, has come to mean "useless, expensive possession"—or a possession that is more trouble than it is worth. More... | |