Today's Highlights
| Word of the Day | |||||||
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gegenschein
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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One-Syllable AdverbsOne-syllable adverbs are formed into comparatives by adding the suffix "-er" to the end of the word. What suffix is added to create the superlative form? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Hope DiamondThe Hope Diamond is a large, blue diamond, currently housed in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Its history can be traced to the "Tavernier Blue," a crudely cut diamond of about 112 carats originally mined in India, which King Louis XIV of France later purchased and cut into "the Blue Diamond of the Crown," or "the French Blue." Legend has it that the Hope Diamond is cursed and causes misfortune to befall its possessors. How did it acquire this reputation? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Last Quagga Dies at Amsterdam's Artis Magistra Zoo (1883)Once found in great numbers on the plains of South Africa, the quagga was heavily hunted by Dutch settlers and became extinct in 1883. A century later, it was the first extinct animal to have its DNA studied. This research determined that the quagga was most likely a variant of the common zebra, contrasting the theory that it was a separate species. The quagga had a sandy brown coat but—like the zebra—had dark stripes on its head, neck, and shoulders. Where did the name "quagga" come from? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Christian III of Denmark and Norway (1503)Christian III was king of Denmark and Norway from 1534 to 1559. Early in his reign, he allied with Sweden to defeat the German city of Lübeck, which had invaded Denmark in an attempt to reinstate the deposed Christian II. That victory broke the power of the Hanseatic League and made the Danish fleet supreme in northern waters. As ruler, Christian established Lutheranism in Denmark and laid the foundation for the absolutist Danish monarchy of the 17th century. On what holiday did Christian die? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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yap, yap, yapping all day long— Talking nonstop, especially about insignificant things. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Queen's Birthday (Thailand) (2022)The Queen's Birthday is a nationwide celebration in Thailand of the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit (b. 1932). Throughout the country, buildings are decorated to honor the queen, but the most splendid are in Bangkok, where buildings and streets are brilliant with colored lights. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: phenomenacosmology - The study of the world as a totality of all phenomena in space and time. More... noology - The science of intuition and reason as phenomena of the mind. More... ontology, phenomenology - Ontology is the branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature or essence of being or existence, the opposite of phenomenology, the science of phenomena. More... second nature - Originally Latin secundum naturam, "according to nature," it is from Aristotelian philosophy and contrasts with phenomena that are super naturam ("above nature," such as God's grace), extra naturam ("outside nature"), supra naturam ("beyond nature," such as miracles), or contra naturam ("against nature"). More... | |
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