Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, February 11, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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bravado
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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ArticlesArticles identify whether a noun is definite (specific or particular) or indefinite (general or unspecific). What are the three articles? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 PhrenologyPhrenology is the study of the shape of the human skull in order to draw conclusions about particular character traits and mental faculties. Phrenologists believe that traits like intelligence are mirrored through elevations in the skull overlying particular areas of the brain. German physiologist Franz Joseph Gall developed the theory around 1800, but modern neurology and physical anthropology regard phrenology as a form of quackery. What is the difference between phrenology and craniometry? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Lateran Treaty Signed Between Italy and the Vatican (1929)The Lateran Treaty ended the political dispute between the Italian government and the Papacy that began when Italy took Rome as its capital in 1871 and limited papal sovereignty to just a few buildings. The treaty created Vatican City and gave the Holy See sovereignty there. Though Italy was under fascist control when the treaty was signed, successive governments have upheld the agreement. The Lateran Treaty established Roman Catholicism as the state religion of Italy. When did this change? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Leo Szilard (1898)Szilard was a Hungarian-American nuclear physicist who, after immigrating to America from Nazi Germany, was instrumental in the development of nuclear weapons. Working with Enrico Fermi, he developed the first self-sustained nuclear reactor based on uranium fission. He was one of the first to realize that nuclear chain reactions could be used in bombs and, in 1939, helped to establish the Manhattan Project. Later he protested nuclear warfare and decided to study what instead? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship.E. M. Forster (1879-1970) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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grill (someone) (about something)— To question or interrogate someone intensely and relentlessly (about something). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Iran Victory Day of the Iranian Revolution (2015)Few world events during the late 20th century were as pivotal as the Iranian Revolution of 1979. On February 1, 1979, Ayatolla Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran to claim power after spending 15 years in exile. To memorialize the historic moment, a helicopter drops flowers on the ayatollah's tomb, in the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery south of the capital city of Tehran. For the next 10 days, people attend film screenings, music performances, and exhibitions inspired by the revolution. The celebration on February 11 usually entails a mass rally and military parade in Tehran. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: umbrellaumbrella - Etymologically, it is a "little shadow." More... parapluie - A French word for umbrella, derived from Latin pluvia, "rain." More... bumbershoot - Another word for umbrella, formed by combining an alteration of the word umbrella and an alteration of the word parachute. More... nuclear umbrella - A protective status in which a nuclear state promises to use its arsenal to defend an ally without nuclear capabilities. More... | |