Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 4, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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inestimable
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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"Long" Adjectives and Degrees of Comparison"Long" adjectives are adjectives that have three or more syllables, or adjectives that have two syllables and do not end in "-y." We do not change the ending of long adjectives. Instead, we add what words to the adjective? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Venera ProgramThe Venera Program consisted of a series of unmanned Soviet planetary probes sent to Venus between 1965 and 1983. Venera 2 flew to within 15,000 miles (24,000 km) of Venus in 1966. A few days later, Venera 3 crash-landed on its surface, becoming the first spacecraft to strike another planet. Later missions analyzed Venus's atmosphere, made soft landings, and mapped and sent back the first close-up photographs of some of the planet's surface. What does Venera mean in Russian? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Confederate States of America Established (1861)Although Abraham Lincoln had stated his willingness to tolerate slavery where it currently existed, his election as US president precipitated the secession of several Southern states. South Carolina, the first to secede, was soon followed out of the Union by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. On February 4, 1861, delegates from the seceding states met in Alabama to organize a provisional government. Who was elected president of the Confederate States of America? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan (1917)Yahya Khan was the president of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971. As president, he inherited a two-decade old constitutional problem of interethnic rivalry, complicated by economic grievances and the problem of transforming a virtual autocracy into a democracy. He declared martial law, but it failed to curb domestic unrest, and civil war between East and West Pakistan broke out. Pakistan's army was defeated, and Yahya Khan resigned after the establishment of what independent republic in 1971? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance…and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.Henry James (1843-1916) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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air rage— Sudden, unruly, and often violently aggressive behavior of a passenger aboard an airplane, generally while in the air, which puts the safety of other passengers, the crew, or the airplane at risk. The term is modeled on "road rage," which is the equivalent behavior in relation to driving. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Li Ch'un (2023)Li Ch'un is Chinese for "spring is here." This is one of 24 days in the Chinese calendar marking a change of season. The celebration of spring in some places has involved a procession of local dignitaries, dancers, singers, and musicians. Some of these carried a platform holding an ox and his driver made of paper. Each year the Chinese almanac, the T'ung Shu, gives specific instructions about the most auspicious colors to use in creating the ox and driver. People also traditionally mount a post with feathers outside their homes, which means that spring has officially arrived. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: stoppagearmistice - Comes from Latin armistitium—from arma, "arms," and -stitium, "stoppage"—and means a temporary cessation from fighting or the use of arms, or a short truce. More... solstice - Derived from Latin sol, "Sun," and stitium, as the Sun appears to stand still on the first day of winter. More... epoch - Pronounced EH-puhk, it is from Greek epokhe, "fixed point in time, stoppage," and it was first the initial point in a chronology from which succeeding years were numbered. More... stasis - A period of inactivity or equilibrium, from Greek histanai, "stoppage." More... | |