Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, June 19, 2016)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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equivocate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Proper AdjectivesProper adjectives, like all adjectives, modify nouns, but they are different from other adjectives because they are actually formed from proper nouns. Why are proper adjectives typically used? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The HydraulophoneA hydraulophone is a musical instrument played via direct physical contact with a hydraulic fluid, typically water. The sound is generated from the vibration of the instrument's liquid and changes based on the position of the fingers in relation to the finger holes. The invention of such devices led to the creation of a physics-based classification system for instruments that takes into account the state of matter that initially produces their sound. What are the five categories of this system? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The First Father's Day (1910)Father's Day is a day set apart in many countries for honoring fathers. In the US, UK, and Canada, it is observed on the third Sunday in June. The idea for a father's day originated when Sonora Louise Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, heard a sermon on Mother's Day in 1909 and was inspired to create a date to honor fathers like her own, a Civil War veteran. Through her efforts, the first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane in 1910. When was the holiday made official in the US? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Blaise Pascal (1623)Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. A child prodigy, he earned the envy of René Descartes with an essay he wrote on conic sections when he was still a teen. Credited with founding the modern theory of probability and advancing differential calculus, he also made important contributions to physics, notably in the study of atmospheric pressure. Why did he later abandon his scientific work to focus on theology and philosophy? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Thank goodness...I was never sent to school...it would have rubbed off some of the originality.Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make a mint— To earn a very large amount of money, especially by doing something very successfully. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 New Church Day (2019)New Church Day refers to the Church of the New Jerusalem, founded in London in the late 18th century by the disciples of Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg's followers believe that in 1757 there was a great judgment in the spiritual world, and that as a result the evil spirits were separated from the good and a new heaven was established. June 19 is the date on which Swedenborg's disciples met in 1770 to organize the New Church. Every year on this day, members of the New Church, called Swedenborgians, meet to conduct important church business and to commemorate the church's founding. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: privilegebox social - A social event at which boxes of food are auctioned to male bidders, who win the privilege of eating and dancing with the woman who prepared the box lunch. More... privilege, prerogative - A privilege is a right that may be extended to a group or a number of people; a prerogative is a right that, customarily, is vested in a single person. More... munity - A granted right or privilege. More... prerogative - Comes from Latin praerogare, "ask before others," and came to mean "right to precedence, privilege." More... | |