Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 31, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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bullhorn
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Aspects of the Future TenseWe use different aspects with verbs in the future tense to describe exactly how an event is structured in relation to a future point in time. The future continuous and future perfect continuous are typically only used with what type of verb? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Leptis MagnaLeptis Magna was a prominent city of the Roman Empire whose remains are among the most spectacular and best-preserved Roman ruins in North Africa. Located on the coast of what is now Libya, Leptis Magna was incorporated into the Roman Empire after the fall of Carthage, flourished under the rule of Emperor Septimius Severus—a Leptis Magna native—and eventually became a major trading post. What ancient artifacts found near the site were kept hidden for five years before being revealed in 2005? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Harry Houdini Makes His Final Escape (1926)Born Erik Weisz, Harry Houdini was an American magician and escape artist. He was famous for escaping from locks, handcuffs, straitjackets, and even sealed chests underwater, thanks to his incredible strength, agility, and skill at manipulating locks. His strength likely carried him through his last performance on October 24, 1926, while suffering from acute appendicitis. He was hospitalized and died on October 31. What strange occurrence in his dressing room contributed to his death? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Natalie Clifford Barney (1876)Though she was a writer for all of her adult life, Barney is not widely known today for her poetry, plays, novels, or epigrams. Instead, she is remembered for her strong support of female writers and for her openness about her homosexuality. For more than 60 years, she hosted an international salon at her Paris home. The well-attended gatherings frequently featured women's works. She also wrote proudly about her love of women in a way that few, if any, had since what 6th-century BCE Greek poet? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 She might hate me, and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity upon me, as she already had, until I should have hated her; but the pitiful fact remained that I loved her.Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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Potemkin village— Something that is made to seem very grand, elaborate, and/or prosperous for the purposes of impressing others, but which in reality has no real worth or substance. Taken from a story about Russian minister Grigory Potemkin (1739–1791) who allegedly erected false, painted façades to mimic a thriving, successful village along the Dnieper River in Crimea to impress the visiting Empress Catherine II. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Halloween (United States) (2018)Halloween has its ultimate origins in the ancient Celtic harvest festival Samhain, a time when people believed that the spirits of the dead roamed the earth. Children go from house to house in costume—often dressed as ghosts, skeletons, or vampires—on Halloween saying, "Trick or treat!" Though for the most part the threat is in jest, the "trick" part if they don't receive a treat may include marking the house's windows with a bar of soap or throwing eggs at it. Most receive treats in the form of candy or money. Halloween parties and parades are popular with adults as well. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: riversMesopotamia - Translates to "area or country between two rivers"—the Tigris and the Euphrates. More... potamology - The science of rivers. More... fluminous, potamic - Two words meaning "pertaining to rivers" are fluminous and potamic. More... watersmeet - A junction of two rivers. More... | |
| In the News | |
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Ancient Interior Decorators: Did Early Humans Line Caves with Lion Pelts?Some 16,000 years ago a big cat died. Today, its toes may provide insight into its species' extinction. The cave lion, Panthera spelaea, once roamed from Europe to northern North America. Scientists think the animal was much like its modern African counterpart ... More... | |