Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, September 22, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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beseech
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Aspects of the Present TenseWe use different aspects with verbs in the present tense to describe exactly how an event is structured in relation to the present moment in time. What is the present simple structure used to express? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Grosmont CastleGrosmont Castle is a ruined castle in Wales very near the English border. It was one of three castles in the area and dates to the 11th or 12th century. It was probably used as an administrative center before being converted to a fortress. In the 13th century, King Henry III's son Edmund made the castle his residence and rebuilt part of it. He constructed a giant false doorway through which one could access the castle’s lower floors but not his living quarters. How, then, did he get in and out? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Vela Incident (1979)In the 1960s, the US launched a group of satellites to monitor international compliance with a treaty prohibiting all tests of nuclear weapons except those conducted underground. In 1979, one of the satellites detected an unidentified double flash characteristic of an atmospheric nuclear explosion. The data were initially interpreted as evidence of a South African nuclear test, but experts later determined that the flash was likely not nuclear in origin and may have instead been caused by what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Joseph Valachi (1903)Valachi, a New York gangster, was the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the organization's existence. A "soldier" in New York City's powerful Genovese crime family, he testified before a congressional committee on organized crime in 1963, disclosing details about the Mafia's history and operations and making "Cosa Nostra" a household name. Three years later, he attempted suicide in his prison cell but survived. Why did Vito Genovese put out a $100,000 contract on Valachi in 1962? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do well.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have had (one's) chips— To be defeated; to fail completely; to die or be killed. A reference to chips (small plastic disks) used to make wagers when gambling. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Bulgaria Independence Day (2023)On September 22, 1908, Prince Ferdinand (1861-1948) of Bulgaria declared the country's independence from the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which had ruled since the 14th century. In 1944, the former Soviet Union invaded Bulgaria and imposed its communist system for nearly 50 years. Like many other eastern European countries, Bulgaria became an independent republic with a new constitution in 1991. In 1998, the Bulgarian Parliament reinstituted September 22 as Bulgarian Independence Day. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: trybeseech - First meant "search for, try to obtain." More... emulate - Means "try to equal or surpass, especially by copying." More... experience, experiment, expert - Experience, experiment and expert derive from Latin experiri, "try." More... quorum - First the genitive plural of Latin qui, "who," it originally referred to the "number of justices who need be present to try a case." More... | |