Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, May 2, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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self-centered
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Personal pronounsA personal pronoun is a pronoun (a word that functions as and acts as a substitute for a noun or nouns) that represents a grammatical person within a sentence. The personal pronoun that is used varies depending on which four grammatical elements? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Novgorod CodexDated to between 988 and 1030 CE and unearthed in Russia in July 2000, the Novgorod Codex is a collection of three wooden tablets containing a total of four wax pages on which a few Biblical psalms are written. Preserving the artifact required that the wax and wood be separated, a process that revealed in the wood traces of thousands of texts written over several decades. Researchers have painstakingly deciphered small portions of the underlying texts. What had been previously written on it? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Battle of Alcatraz Begins (1946)The Battle of Alcatraz followed an escape attempt from Alcatraz Island's federal penitentiary by six inmates who got stuck inside a cellhouse after failing to secure a key to the prison yard. Trapped, the inmates took the guards prisoner and took control of the cellhouse. The US Marines were called in, and two guards and three inmates died in the ensuing confrontation. Two inmates were later executed for their role in the incident. How long was it before the next attempted escape from Alcatraz? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Yongle Emperor (1360)Born Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor was the favorite son of the founder of China's Ming dynasty. He spent his youth developing a military career but was passed over for the throne. He rebelled and seized the throne from his nephew in 1402. As emperor, he greatly extended China's scope and influence. He moved the capital to Beijing, built the Forbidden City, and sponsored the compilation of an immense encyclopedia of Chinese culture and history. What was the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Sooner or later we have all to pay for what we do.Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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catch a snooze— To sleep or take a nap, especially of a short duration. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Festival of Sant' Efisio (2018)The Sagra di Sant' Efisio at Cagliari, in Sardinia, Italy, commemorates the martyrdom of a third-century Roman general who was converted to Christianity and credited with saving the town from the plague. On May 1, a procession accompanies a statue of St. Efisio through the streets of Cagliari to the church of Pula, the town where he suffered martyrdom. Three days later the statue returns to Cagliari. Several thousand pilgrims, wearing costumes that date from the 17th century and earlier, take part in the procession, which culminates in a parade down Cagliari's main avenue. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: housesginnel - A long narrow passage between houses. More... row house - Part of an unbroken line or series of houses. More... domal - Means of or pertaining to a house or houses. More... vicinal, vicinity - Vicinal, from Latin vicus, "group of houses," means "of or pertaining to a neighborhood"—hence, vicinity. More... | |