Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, September 16, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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dungaree
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Phrasal VerbsPhrasal verbs are verb phrases that have idiomatic meanings—that is, their meaning is not obvious from the individual words that make up the phrase. What parts of speech typically make up a phrasal verb? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Photographic MosaicsSimply speaking, a photographic mosaic is a picture made of smaller pictures. Often used to recreate iconic images such as the Mona Lisa, photomosaics are created by replacing rectangular sections of an image with smaller pictures or photographs of an average color. When viewed from afar, a primary image is visible. When examined closely, the hundreds or thousands of smaller images acting as pixels are revealed. In 1994, a photomosaic of John F. Kennedy was created with pictures of whom? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Montreal Protocol Signed to Protect the Ozone Layer (1987)The Montreal Protocol was enacted in response to the discovery that the ozone layer—which shields life on Earth from harmful radiation—was diminishing. Signed by the majority of the world's nations, the treaty mandates the decreased use of ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and has been amended several times based on new scientific data. By 1993, CFC production had dropped dramatically. If the agreement is followed, the ozone layer is expected to recover by what year? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 B.B. King (1925)A singer and guitarist born into a sharecropping family in the Mississippi Delta region of the US, King began playing guitar at 12. He worked as a radio DJ in Memphis before coming to prominence as a guitarist in 1952. He has toured widely, averaging over 300 shows a year for nearly 30 years. King famously named his guitar Lucille after a woman who inspired a fight at one of his concerts that ended with the venue burning down. King's first name is Riley. What does B.B. stand for? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 How paramount the future is to the present when one is surrounded by children.Charles Darwin (1809-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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leather-lunged— (used before a noun) Having an extremely or inordinately loud or strong voice, as of someone with very robust lungs. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Mexico Festival of Independence (2017)At 11 o'clock on the night of September 15 in Mexico City, the president appears on the balcony of the National Palace and proclaims the famous Grito de Dolores ("cry of Dolores")—the "call to freedom" that the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla used to rouse the peasant population to fight for their independence in 1810. The people respond by cheering Viva México! and shooting off fireworks. The following day is Independence Day, which is celebrated with fireworks, the ringing of cathedral bells, and a huge military parade. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: weighdispense - Ultimately from Latin dispendere, "weigh out." More... expend - Comes from ex-, "out," and pendere, "weigh; pay"; originally, it referred to spending money, with the root sense being "to weigh out money." More... preponderate - Once meant "weigh more" and "have greater intellectual weight." More... spend - A blend of Latin pendere, "pay, weigh," and expendere, "pay out." More... | |
| In the News | |
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Mars Looks Amazingly like the US West in Beautiful New PhotosCuriosity has shared its latest photos of Mars, offering us another glimpse into the rover's adventures on the Red Planet. In photos taken last week, the tall, layered rock formations in the Murray Buttes area bear resemblance to national parks in the American ... More... | |