Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, May 28, 2022)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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schism
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Possessive Determiners vs. Possessive Personal PronounsPossessive determiners are often confused with possessive personal pronouns ("mine," "yours," "his," "hers," "its," "ours," "theirs") since some of the forms overlap. How do possessive pronouns differ from possessive determiners? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Maple SyrupA popular topping for pancakes, waffles, French toast, and the like, maple syrup comes from the sap of sugar maple and black maple trees. In springtime, taps inserted in the trees begin flowing with sap, which is collected, strained, and concentrated by boiling. Native Americans were the first to prepare syrup from maple sap, using hot rocks or freezing to concentrate the sap. They shared their methods with arriving colonists—and the rest is history. What is produced by boiling down maple syrup? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 NASA Announces Discovery of Ice Deposits on Mars (2002)Launched in April 2001, the Mars Odyssey spacecraft was sent by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to look for evidence of water on Mars. A little over a year later, NASA announced that water had been detected there in the form of ice, suggesting the possibility of microbial life on the Red Planet. The Phoenix lander confirmed the presence of water in 2008. The presence of what element led NASA researchers to conclude that there was indeed water on Mars? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807)Agassiz was a Swiss-born naturalist and geologist. Noticing the presence of huge alpine boulders in areas of Switzerland where there are no glaciers, he hypothesized that glaciers had, at one time, been widespread in the area and had dragged the boulders there. This lent credence to his theory of a recent ice age. He was also a renowned teacher and did notable work with fossils. Agassiz was a lifelong opponent, on religious grounds, of what now-accepted scientific theory? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.James Madison (1751-1836) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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mind (one's) manners— To be well behaved and act appropriately. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Chestertown Tea Party Festival (2023)When news of the British Boston Port Act reached Chestertown, Maryland, a group of local residents boarded the brigantine Geddes and dumped the tea in the Chester River. Every year during the Chestertown Tea Party Festival, the rebellion is reenacted. The crowd winds its way down High Street to the river, where the "colonists" board a ship and throw its cargo of tea into the river. Other festival events include a colonial parade, exhibits and demonstrations of 18th-century American crafts, clog dancing, horse-and-carriage rides, and tall ship cruises. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: losingidiot strings - Refers to the strings that attach mittens to prevent a child from losing one. More... in hock - Can be traced to the card game faro, in which the last card in the box was called the hocketty card; when a player bet on a card that ended up in hock, he was at a disadvantage and was himself in hock and at risk of losing his bets. More... jeopardy - Comes from French ieu parti, "(evenly) divided game" (from Latin jocus partitus, "divided game"), referring originally to chess, in which the chances of winning and losing are balanced. More... pain - Originally meant punishment for a crime or offense—sometimes by losing one's head. More... | |