Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, July 16, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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flapjack
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Dummy PronounsDummy pronouns are words that function grammatically as pronouns, but which do not have antecedents like normal pronouns do. This means that, unlike normal pronouns, dummy pronouns do not replace a noun, phrase, or clause. They are also commonly referred to as what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 QuartzQuartz, which can split light into a spectrum, is one of the most common of all rock-forming minerals and one of the most important constituents of the earth's crust. Quartz may be transparent, translucent, or opaque; it may be colorless or colored. Varieties are classified as crystalline and cryptocrystalline, whose crystal structure can be seen only under the microscope, if at all. What is quartz's rank on the Mohs scale of hardness? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 World's First Parking Meter Installed (1935)The parking meter was invented in 1935 by Carl C. Magee in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The first meter was installed there later that year, guaranteeing drivers a parking space for an amount of purchased time. Used until the 1980s, Magee's original design had a coin acceptor, a dial, and a visible flag indicating the expiration of paid time. Reverend C.H. North was the first person in the US to get a parking ticket because of an expired meter. What happened when he disputed his ticket in court? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (1872)Amundsen was a Norwegian polar explorer who led the first expeditions to traverse the Northwest Passage and to reach the South Pole. Turning to air exploration, in 1926 he and Umberto Nobile succeeded in flying over the North Pole and unexplored regions of the Arctic Ocean in a dirigible built and piloted by Nobile. A bitter controversy followed with Nobile as to the credit for the success. Yet in 1928, when Nobile crashed a different dirigible, Amundsen launched a rescue mission. What happened? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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not your father's— Very modern or updated; no longer what an older generation would expect or be used to. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Pilgrimage of Saut d'Eau (2018)The pilgrimage to the church in Ville-Bonheur, Haiti, combines both Christian and Voodoo beliefs. There is a sacred grove just outside Ville-Bonheur where, according to legend, the Virgin Mary once appeared on top of a palm tree. At this holy place, known as Saut d'Eau (waterfall), two waterfalls tumble from a precipice more than 100 feet high to create a kind of natural cathedral. This is the home of Damballah-wedo and other African deities who play a part in Voodoo. Some worshipers tie colored cords to the sacred trees at the foot of the falls, while others bathe in the water. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: stealembezzle - Originally, it simply meant "steal." More... purloin - Meaning to steal, it is from Latin pur/pro, "forth," and loign, "far." More... scrounge - First meant to live off or sponge off someone else; it is a variant of scrunge, "steal." More... snoop - From Dutch snoepen, "eat on the sly," it first meant "steal and eat in a clandestine manner." More... | |
| In the News | |
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Are Human Hands Really More Primitive than Chimp Hands?When humans think about primate evolution, we tend to picture ourselves at the pinnacle. But could we be overplaying our hands? New research suggests that human hands may actually be more primitive than the hands of other dexterous primates ... More... | |