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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Declarative SentencesA declarative sentence makes a statement or argument about what is, was, or will be the case. What are some variations of declarative sentences? 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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.jpg) Saddam Hussein Becomes President of Iraq (1979)Hussein was president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He joined Iraq's Ba'th Party in 1957 and fled to Egypt after participating in a failed attempt to assassinate the Iraqi prime minister in 1959. He returned to Iraq when the Ba'thists gained power in 1963 but was jailed when they were overthrown. He escaped and helped reinstall the party in 1968. A decade later, he took over the presidency with the aim of replacing Egypt as leader of the Arab world. How many wars did Iraq fight during his tenure? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Saint Clare of Assisi (1194)Born to a noble family, Chiara Offreduccio, now St. Clare of Assisi, was deeply influenced by fellow Assisian St. Francis. Refusing to marry, she instead fled to a chapel where he received her vows. She later became abbess of a female religious community that included her sister and mother. The Second Order of St. Francis, or Poor Clares, adopted the absolute poverty of St. Francis but was strictly cloistered, unlike its counterpart, the Franciscans. Why is Clare the patron saint of television? 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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Captain Obvious— A person who makes a statement or statements of such obvious meaning or implication as to be entirely redundant, superfluous, or unnecessary. 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: instructioncatechism, catechumen - Catechism comes from Latin catechismus, "instruction by word of mouth," and is literally a series of questions and answers; a catechumen is a young Christian preparing for confirmation. More... disciple, discipline - Disciple comes from a Latin word meaning "learner" and discipline comes from one meaning "instruction, knowledge." More... document - First meant "instruction" or "evidence," whether written or not. More... lore - Originally meant "the act of teaching" or a "piece of instruction, lesson." More... | |