Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, March 20, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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figurine
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Dangling PrepositionsDespite what you may have been taught, it’s a myth that ending a sentence or clause with a preposition is an error. Where did this myth originate? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Sea PeoplesSea Peoples, seafaring raiders who ravaged and settled the Mediterranean coasts between the 12th and 13th centuries BCE, are mentioned in a number of records from ancient civilizations. Scholars believe that the warriors were actually members of a confederacy of several ethnic groups, and a number of hypotheses exist regarding the identities and motives of the Sea Peoples. Which empire's decline is believed to have resulted from the activities of the Sea Peoples? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US Approves Antiretroviral Drug AZT as a Treatment for AIDS (1987)Though it was originally developed as an anticancer drug in 1964, azidothymidine (AZT) was never approved for that purpose. Two decades later, however, it was discovered to be effective in fighting HIV. At the time, thousands of people were dying of AIDS, and no other treatment was forthcoming. For humanitarian reasons, the drug was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in a matter of months, rather than the usual eight to 10 years. How does the drug prevent HIV from reproducing? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Burrhus Frederic "B.F." Skinner (1904)Forgoing his early goal of being a writer, Skinner earned his doctorate in psychology at Harvard, where he later spent much of his teaching career. A leading exponent of the behavioral approach to psychology, Skinner maintained that learning occurs as a result of an organism responding to, or operating on, its environment, a phenomenon he called operant conditioning. Skinner did extensive research with animals and, during WWII, worked for the US government training what animal to guide missiles? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 What is a novel if not a conviction of our fellow-men's existence strong enough to take upon itself a form of imagined life clearer than reality and whose accumulated verisimilitude of selected episodes puts to shame the pride of documentary history.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make (someone's) jaw drop— To cause someone to pause in astonishment, awe, or disbelief, especially with his or her mouth left open. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Nowruz (Iranian New Year) (2018)The first day of spring (nowruz means "new day") is celebrated by all religious groups in Iran and Afghanistan. In Iran, Nowruz is an event lasting 13 days, during which people wear new clothes, give gifts, and visit friends and relatives. Banquet tables traditionally hold seven foods starting with the letter S. Plates with sprouting wheat symbolize fertility, as do eggs, which are colored. Other symbols are a mirror, candlesticks, and a bowl of water with a green leaf in it. The 13th day after Nawruz is Sizdah-Bedar, and everyone picnics in the country or on rugs in city parks. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: offerbid - Derives from Old English beodan, "to offer or command." More... carrot-and-stick - Refers to an offer of reward countered by the threat of punishment. More... blind fold - Worn by the Greek statue for justice so she cannot see the bribes being offered to her, hence, blind justice. More... cast pearls before swine - To offer something valuable to someone who does not appreciate it. More... | |
| In the News | |
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Comma Comeuppance: When Rogue Punctuation Proves CostlyA US dairy faces an overtime bill of about $10m (£8m), after a group of truck drivers won a pay dispute that hinged on some punctuation. An appeal court sided with the drivers, saying the lack of a comma in the state of Maine's overtime laws made the ... More... | |