Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, May 12, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pinafore
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Negative Adverbs Meaning "Not Often" or "Not Ever"Negative adverbs and negative adverbials are used to modify the meaning of a verb, adjective, other adverb, or entire clause in a negative way. When we want to stress how infrequently something occurs, what negative adverbs can we use? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 ShahnamehThe Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, is an enormous poetic opus compiled by the Persian poet Ferdowsi around 1000 CE. Considered the first great work of modern Persian literature, the Shahnameh recounts the mythical and historical past of Iran, from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest in the 7th century. With 62 stories, 990 chapters, and 60,000 rhyming couplets, the Shahnameh is much longer than what well known ancient epic? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Soviet Union Lifts Blockade of Berlin (1949)One of the first major crises of the Cold War, the Berlin blockade began in June 1948 during the multinational occupation of post-WWII Germany. In an attempt to force its former wartime allies—the US, the UK, and France—out of Berlin, the USSR began a blockade of all rail, road, and water traffic through East Germany to West Berlin. Rather than withdraw, the Western powers bypassed the blockade by airlifting thousands of tons of supplies into the city each day. What was Operation Little Vittles? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910)Hodgkin developed a passion for chemistry at an early age and went on to become a leader in the field of X-ray crystallography. In 1948, she and her colleagues made the first X-ray photograph of vitamin B12—one of the most complex nonprotein compounds—and eventually determined its atomic arrangement. Her work in determining its structure, as well as that of other biochemical compounds, won her a 1964 Nobel Prize. In 1969, Hodgkin completed a similar three-dimensional analysis of what hormone? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
a life of its own— The state of something that exists and thrives outside and beyond the control of the point of origin. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Boston Pops (2023)Henry Lee Higginson, who established the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1881, believed that in the summer, "concerts of a lighter kind of music" should be presented. People began to refer fondly to these summer concerts as "the Pops," a name which became official in 1900. The Boston Pops tailors its programs around American music and musicians, medleys of popular songs, and familiar movements of classical works. Outside of its official concert season at Symphony Hall, where it performs through May and June, the Pops also tours the United States. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: softenemollient, emolliate - Emollient is from Latin emolliere, "to soften"; to emolliate is to soften or make effeminate. More... macerate - Meaning "to soften," it comes from Greek massein, "knead." More... lenify, lenity - To lenify is to alleviate or soothe an emotion or suffering, from Latin lenire, "soften"; lenity means kindness or gentleness. More... amalgamate - Seems to go back to Greek malagma, "softening." More... | |