Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, April 12, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pasquinade
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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How to Form Comparative AdverbsComparative adverbs, like comparative adjectives, are used to describe differences and similarities between two things. We form comparative adverbs either by adding the word "more" (or "less") before the base adverb, or by adding what ending to the base adverb? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Mystery of Skeleton LakeAn uninhabited area located high in the Indian Himalayas, Roopkund is best known as the home of Skeleton Lake, where in 1942 a park ranger made a startling discovery—a mass grave containing the remains of some 300 to 600 people. Using radiocarbon dating, scientists traced the skeletons to the 9th century. Though people initially believed the dead were victims of landslides, an epidemic, or a blizzard, further examination of the skulls revealed that the people died in what unusual way? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Canter & Siegel Post the First Commercial Mass Usenet Spam (1994)Spam is now a ubiquitous part of the Internet, but that was not always the case. Early in the Internet age, two enterprising immigration lawyers—Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel—opened the floodgates of unwanted online commercial solicitation when they posted an ad for their services on thousands of Usenet newsgroups. Though not the first Usenet spam, the "Green Card Lottery" notice was the first to be commercial in nature and ushered in the modern era of Internet spam. What became of the duo? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550)A brilliantly gifted linguist and one of the most dashing figures of his time, Oxford was also reckless, hot-tempered, and disastrously spendthrift. He was the patron of an acting company and wrote highly praised poems and plays in his earlier years, though none of the plays are known to have survived. He is considered by some to be the true author of Shakespeare's plays, since his own literary output apparently ceased just before Shakespeare's began. Which of his writings have survived? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 A fearful man is always hearing things.Sophocles (496 BC-406 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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the meat of the matter— The most important, basic, or fundamental essence or element(s) of an issue, problem, or matter at hand. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Halifax Day (2018)Also known as Halifax Resolves Day, Halifax Resolutions Day, Halifax Independence Day, or Halifax Resolutions of Independence Day, this is the day on which, in the spring of 1776, North Carolina's delegates to the Second Continental Congress were given permission to join with representatives from other colonies in declaring their independence from British rule. The Halifax Resolutions helped lay the groundwork for the American Revolution. Halifax Day observances take place in Halifax with reenactments and living history camps. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tiedogfall - A draw or tie. More... dead heat - If two horses tied in a heat, the heat did not count and was called "dead"; now any tie can be called a dead heat. More... knit - Literally first meant "tie with or in a knot." More... moor - Meaning "tie up a boat," it was probably borrowed from German or Dutch. More... | |
| In the News | |
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Man Searches for Caribbean Treasure Using a Secret Map Left by NASA AstronautHe's hunting for sunken treasure in the Caribbean, using a secret map created from outer space by one of NASA's first astronauts. Darrell Miklos, who is documenting the experience as part of a new Discovery Channel series, told ABC News that he obtained the ... More... | |