Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, February 5, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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overblown
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Abstract Countable NounsEven though abstract nouns, such as "emergency" and "conversation," are not tangible, many of them can still be counted as separable units. Like concrete nouns, they can take the indefinite articles "a" or "an." Can they be made plural? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 James the JustJames the Just was an important figure in early Christianity whose exact relationship to Jesus has been the subject of much debate. Several early sources refer to him as the "brother" of Jesus, and scholars differ about whether he was a half-brother, cousin, or merely a brother in spirit like the other apostles. After Jesus’ crucifixion, James led the Christian movement as the first bishop of Jerusalem. What evidence exists to explain how James might or might not have been related to Jesus? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Hydrogen Bomb Lost in the Ocean (1958)The Tybee Bomb is a 7,600-pound (3,500-kg) nuclear bomb containing 400 pounds (180 kg) of conventional high explosives and highly enriched uranium. During a simulated combat mission, the B-47 bomber carrying it collided with an F-86 fighter plane, and the bomb was jettisoned and lost. It is presumed to be somewhere in Wassaw Sound, off the shores of Georgia's Tybee Island, but recovery efforts have been unsuccessful. In 2004, a retired air force pilot made what discovery in the case? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 H.R. Giger (1940)Giger was a Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer who became popular for providing concept art for the movies Alien and Species and won an Oscar for his work on the former in 1980. His work is often surreal and nightmarish and is recognizable for its frequent blending of human forms and mechanical or industrial elements. It is this "biomechanical" style for which Giger is best known. From where did the artist draw much of his early inspiration? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.Jane Austen (1775-1817) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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alarm bell— A sudden warning or intimation of danger, risk, or ill fortune. (Often pluralized.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Roger Williams Day (2023)Roger Williams was the founder of the American Baptist Church. Born in Wales, he arrived in the Massachusetts colony on this day in 1631 and soon found himself in profound disagreement with the local Puritans. He fled south to what is now called Providence and founded the Rhode Island colony. Under his leadership, the people of Rhode Island were the first to establish a Baptist congregation on American soil (in 1638) and the first to build a community based on this principle of religious liberty. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: wavesbreach - The leap of a whale out of the water or the breaking of waves over a vessel or onto a coast; it is also the act of breaking. More... plangent - Describes the sound of the sea and its waves—reverberating and mournfully resonant. More... swaff - To come one over another, like waves upon a shore. More... lop - The state of the sea when it has waves that are short and lumpy, hence "loppy," when it is choppy and lumpy. More... | |