Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, March 15, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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surfactant
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Conjugating "Be"The verb "be" is known as a highly irregular verb due to the huge variation in how it conjugates for tense and person. How many conjugations does "be" have? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 CapoeiraAn Afro-Brazilian dance form that incorporates self-defense maneuvers, capoeira originated among African slaves in 19th-century Brazil and is now a popular art form practiced worldwide. Capoeira is performed in a special roda, or circle, where practitioners take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring. While capoeira focuses on skill rather than injuring opponents, the intensity of an individual game depends on the rhythm of the music. Why was capoeira outlawed in Brazil in 1890? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Beware the Ides of March (44 BCE)Now used as a metaphor for impending doom, the "Ides of March" was originally simply a name for March 15th. In the ancient Roman calendar, the term "ides" referred to the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, and October and the 13th of all other months. The Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god of Mars and often marked with a military parade. However, when Julius Caesar was assassinated on that day in 44 BCE, the phrase took on an entirely new meaning. Who killed Caesar? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933)Nicknamed the "Thurgood Marshall of women's rights," Ruth Bader Ginsburg graduated at the top of her class at Columbia Law School in 1959. During the 1970s, she became the first tenured female professor at Columbia, led the Women's Rights Project, and won several important Supreme Court cases before she was appointed to the US Court of Appeals in 1980. Confirmed as a justice of the Supreme Court in 1993, she was the second woman to sit on the nation's highest bench. Who was the first? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.Jane Austen (1775-1817) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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corporate ladder— The hierarchy of authority and earning power within a large business or corporation, likened to the rungs of a ladder. Usually used with some variable verb or phrase referring to ascension. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Anna Parenna Festival (2023)Anna Perenna was a Roman goddess who represented the circle or ring of the year—Anna being the feminine form of annus (meaning "year") and March, the month her festival was observed, being the first month of the Roman calendar. On the day of her festival, the plebs of Rome went to the Campus Martius, a large field outside the walls of the city, and lay about on the grass, often constructing simple huts out of stakes and branches with togas stretched across the top. They spent the day drinking, dancing, and singing, returning to the city at night in a state of deep intoxication. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mammalamniocentesis, amnion - Amniocentesis is formed by amnion, the innermost membrane enclosing a fetus, and Greek kentesis, "pricking." More... endoskeleton - Contained entirely within the body of an animal, like that of mammals. More... pelage - The fur, hair, wool, etc. of a mammal. More... rhinarium - The hairless, habitually moist nose of some mammals, such as the antelope. More... | |