Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, February 26, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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clemency
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Direct ObjectsDirect objects are directly affected by the verbs they complete—that is, the verb's action is happening directly to them. What is the direct object in the following sentence? "The dog chased its tail." More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The MamluksThe Mamluks were members of a warrior caste that ruled Egypt from about 1250 to 1517. Islamic rulers created the caste by collecting non-Muslim slave boys, grooming them as cavalry soldiers, and converting them to Islam during training. The Mamluks initially served the Ayyubid sultans but grew powerful enough to challenge them and claim the sultanate. Though the Ottomans crushed the Mamluks and took Cairo in 1517, the word "mamluk" lives on in various cultures today. What meanings does it have? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Radar Is Demonstrated (1935)Radar is a means for detecting the position, movement, and nature of a remote object through radio waves reflected from its surface. During the 1930s, several countries independently developed the technology for military use, exploiting radar's capacity to detect aircrafts and ships. One of the earliest practical radar systems was devised by Sir Robert Watson-Watt, a Scottish physicist and descendent of the inventor of the steam engine, James Watt. What was the "Battle of the Beams"? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya (1869)Krupskaya was a Russian revolutionary and educator who was a Marxist agitator in the years leading up to the Russian Revolution. She married Bolshevik founder Vladimir Lenin in 1898, while both were serving terms in exile. After the Revolution, she joined the People's Commissariat of Education and helped develop educational systems that offered both academic and professional training to women and workers. Her biography is known as the most detailed account of Lenin's life but omits what events? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 "My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober."Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a week is a long time in politics— Due to the fast-changing pace of the political landscape, the fortunes of a politician or political group can change drastically just in the course of a single week. The phrase is attributed to British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, c. 1964. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Ayyam-i-Ha (2023)Also known as Days of Ha, the Ayyam-i-Ha are intercalary days (extra days inserted in a calendar) in the Baha'i calendar. The calendar is made up of 19 months of 19 days, plus the period of four days added between the 18th and 19th months, which allows for the year to be adjusted to the solar cycle. The days are set aside for rejoicing, hospitality, gift-giving, special acts of charity, and spiritually preparing for the Baha'i fast from March 2–20. The new calendar was inaugurated by Mirza Ali Mohammad, known as the Bab, founder of the Babi religion from which the Baha'i faith emerged. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: orbitapsis - The extreme point of an orbit. More... eccentric - First meant "not concentric" as it referred to an orbit in which the Earth was not precisely in the center or straying from a circular path; the area where two circles overlap is the eccentric. More... exorbitant - Originally a legal term for a case outside of the scope of a law; since it implies going "out of orbit," it also first meant "deviating from the true path." More... orbit - First meant "eye socket"; the eye is located in the eye socket or orbit. More... | |