Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, February 15, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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hauteur
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Aspects of the Present TenseWe use different aspects with verbs in the present tense to describe exactly how an event is structured in relation to the present moment in time. What is the present simple structure used to express? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Goethe's Theory of ColoursIn 1810, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published his observations of color. Most physicists dispute the validity of his work because of his reification of darkness and explanation of color as the interplay between darkness and light. Goethe considered this work his magnum opus and it remains a remarkable catalogue of observations on color perception and color phenomena. What inspired Goethe to pursue his own study of color and challenge the widely accepted theories posited by Newton? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Decimal Day (1971)Financial calculations using the old currency of the UK were complicated, as one pound was made up of 240 pence or 20 shillings, a shilling was equal to 12 pence, and the half-crown was worth two shillings and sixpence. After considering decimalization for over a century, Parliament passed the Decimal Currency Act in 1969. The pound was to be divided into 100 "new pence," and a massive publicity campaign was launched in the weeks leading up to Decimal Day. How did people react to the change? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Susan Brownell Anthony (1820)Anthony was a pioneer in the US women's suffrage movement. The daughter of an abolitionist, she was well-educated and campaigned tirelessly for abolition and suffrage, attempting to secure laws to protect women's rights. In 1869, she and fellow suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Woman Suffrage Association. She helped edit a history of the movement and purchased copies for American and European universities. In 1872, she was arrested for leading a group of women in doing what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 A funeral is not death, any more than baptism is birth or marriage union. All three are the clumsy devices, coming now too late, now too early, by which Society would register the quick motions of man.E. M. Forster (1879-1970) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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gun it— To accelerate or increase speed suddenly or rapidly; to travel or move very quickly. Usually said while traveling in an automobile. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Gullah Celebration (2020)The Gullah Celebration takes place annually over four weekends in February on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The event showcases the history and heritage of the island's Gullahs, the name for people of African origin inhabiting the islands and coastal areas of the southeastern U.S. Entertainment at the celebration includes storytelling, traditional gospel music, African dance, and popular R&B and jazz. An expo provides demonstrations in such traditional arts and crafts as basket-making, indigo dying techniques, African "long-strip" quilting, and weaving fish nets. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: leisureempty - First meant "at leisure, unoccupied," and it could also mean "unmarried." More... leisure - Based on Latin licere, "be allowed." More... scholastic - Based on Latin scholasticus, "devote one's leisure to learning." More... vacation - Coming from Latin vacation/vacatio, from vacare, "to be free, empty; to be at leisure," around 1395, this term entered Old English, meaning "rest and freedom from any activity." More... | |