Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, March 18, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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perpetuity
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Attributive AdjectivesAttributive adjectives are adjectives that describe a characteristic (or attribute) of the noun or pronoun that they modify. What is the difference between restrictive and non-restrictive attributive adjectives? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Wardenclyffe TowerThe Wardenclyffe Tower was an early telecommunications aerial tower intended for commercial wireless transatlantic telephony and broadcasting and to demonstrate the transmission of power without interconnecting wires. Designed by inventor Nikola Tesla and funded by financier J.P. Morgan and others, the tower was planned to be built in Long Island, New York. Construction began in 1901, but as funds dwindled, work was halted. Why did the US government have the incomplete facility blown up in 1917? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Peace of Riga between Poland and Soviet Union (1921)When Poland declared its independence in 1918 in the aftermath of WWI, its borders—like many at that time—were not formally determined. By 1920, war had broken out over conflicting expansionist attempts between Soviet Russia and Poland, which wanted its 1772 border restored. The Peace of Riga treaty split contested land between Poland and the Soviets, setting the border and effectively halting Russian expansion into Europe. Where were Poles left on the wrong side of the border sent in the 1930s? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John Hoyer Updike (1932)Updike was a prolific American author whose novels and stories usually deal with the tensions and frustrations of middle-class life. Published between 1961 and 1990, his four famous "Rabbit" novels follow an ordinary American man through the latter decades of the 20th century. Updike is one of the few authors to have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction more than once. He was also a respected literary critic who championed young authors and espoused what five rules for literary criticism? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Only as we live, think, feel, and work outside the home, do we become humanly developed, civilized, socialized.Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have a (good/solid/sound/etc.) grasp of/on (something)— To have a firm, clear understanding or determination of something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Haru no Higan (2020)Higan is a week of Buddhist services observed in Japan at the spring and autumn equinoxes. Higan means the "other shore," and refers to the spirits of the dead reaching Nirvana after crossing the river of existence. Thus, Higan is a celebration of the spiritual move from the world of suffering to the world of enlightenment and is a time for remembering the dead, visiting, cleaning, and decorating their graves, and reciting sutras, Buddhist prayers. O-hagi, rice balls covered with sweet bean paste, and sushi are offered. It is traditional not to eat meat during this period. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sleepingcubicle - Originally a small room for sleeping—from Latin cumb, "lie down"—that was separated from a larger room. More... breakfast - Literally means "breaking the fast"—of the night, as it is the first meal after sleeping. More... dormition - A peaceful and painless death, as well as the act of sleeping or falling asleep. More... incubate, incubation - Latin incubare, the source of incubate, literally meant "lie down on"; incubation once had the sense of sleeping in a sacred place or temple for oracular purposes. More... | |