Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, March 16, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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unrelieved
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Commas with Long NumbersIt is standard practice to add one or more commas to long numbers to make them easier to read. What are commas used in this way technically known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Absent-Minded ProfessorThe absent-minded professor is a stock character in popular fiction, usually portrayed as an intelligent but bumbling academic whose focus on scientific matters causes him or her to lose track of the everyday world. Isaac Newton, Adam Smith, and Archimedes were all considered absent-minded professors by their contemporaries. What philosopher is said to have fallen down a well because he had his eyes focused on the heavens instead of the ground in front of him while walking at night? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 My Lai Massacre (1968)During the Vietnam War, US troops searching for Viet Cong fighters massacred hundreds of civilians from the Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai. Though they had not located any insurgents in My Lai, the soldiers opened fire on the villagers, killing men, women, and children. The incident was initially covered up by army officers. When it was revealed in the press nearly two years later, it divided the US public and increased pressure to end the war. How many soldiers were convicted for their crimes? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Rosa Bonheur (1822)One of the most famous female painters of the 19th century, Bonheur was trained by her father—an art teacher—and began regularly exhibiting her work at the Paris Salon in 1841. Her unsentimental paintings of animals became very popular, particularly in England and the US, and her most famous painting, The Horse Fair, gained her an international reputation. Who gave her formal permission to dress as a man so that she could study horses at the actual Horse Fair in Paris? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd been saying they were.John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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can't be bothered— Unwilling or disinclined to make the effort necessary to do or accomplish something. (Used in the present and past tenses almost interchangeably.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Urho's Day (2023)St. Urho, whose name in Finnish means "hero," is credited with banishing a plague of grasshoppers that was threatening Finland's grape arbors. His legend in the United States was popularized in the 1950s; after being celebrated as a "joke holiday" for several years in the Menahga-Sebeka area, the idea spread to other states with large Finnish populations. The actual celebrations include wearing St. Urho's official colors—Nile Green and Royal Purple—drinking grape juice, and chanting St. Urho's famous words, "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go away," in Finnish. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: shoespumps - The shoes are so named for the sound they make. More... revamp - Originally referred to shoes—vamp being the covering of the instep. More... Brannock device - The device used to measure feet for shoes. More... be down on your uppers - To be down on your uppers (referring to shoes) is to be scuffing along, in poor circumstances. More... | |