Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, May 27, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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epicure
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adjective PhrasesAn adjective phrase is an adjective and any additional information linked to it that work together to describe a noun or pronoun in a sentence. How does an adjective phrase differ from an adjectival phrase? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Art of Eating FireFire-eaters are entertainers who extinguish flaming objects and transfer flames using their mouths and other body parts. The tradition of fire-eating was embedded in the spiritual performances of Hindu ascetics, and by the late 1880s, these daring acts had become a standard element in sideshow productions. Extinguishing tricks are the traditional hallmark of fire-eating, and performers often use their mouths to snuff out 1, 2, or even 3 flaming torches. What is the “secret” to fire-eating? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Christopher Reeve Is Paralyzed (1995)Having starred in four Superman movies beginning in 1978, Reeve was an immensely popular actor by the 1990s. He was also an avid athlete and equestrian. During an event in 1995, his horse spooked before a jump, throwing Reeve. He landed on his head and was paralyzed from the neck down. He briefly considered suicide, but instead spent the rest of his life campaigning for spinal injury research. His friend Robin Williams was the first person to make Reeve laugh after the accident. How? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok (1837)Hickok was an American frontier marshal, legendary marksman, and gambler. In 1861, while working as a stagecoach driver, he shot and killed outlaw Dave McCanles, earning a reputation as a gunfighter. After serving as a Union spy during the Civil War, he was appointed a US marshal and tamed two Kansas towns. He was shot dead by a drunken stranger while playing poker at a saloon in the town of Deadwood. At the time, he was holding what combination of cards, now known as "dead man's hand"? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.Willa Cather (1873-1947) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be (as) green as a gooseberry— To be very young, immature, and/or inexperienced. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Indianapolis 500 (2018)The "Greatest Spectacle in Racing," popularly known as the Indy 500, is actually the culmination of a month-long event. It begins the first week in May with a parade around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the two-and-a-half-mile oval track on which the race takes place. Then there are qualifying races to determine who will participate in the final race, which is held on the Sunday before Memorial Day. The race itself, which has been held in Indianapolis since 1911, regularly attracts about 400,000 spectators, in addition to a nationwide television audience. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: wavecomber, breaker, roller - A long curving wave is a comber, a wave that curls over and dissolves into foam is a breaker, and a long wave moving steadily shoreward is a roller. More... scend - As a noun, it is the surge of a wave or the sea; as a verb, it means to pitch or surge up in a heavy sea. More... undulate - From Latin unda, "wave." More... wave - Meaning "movement of the sea," it seems to be an alteration of the earlier wawe, "wave," from Old English woeg, "motion, wave." More... | |