Today's Highlights
| Word of the Day | |||||||
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recrudesce
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining Predicate NounsNouns that follow linking verbs are known as "predicate nouns" (or sometimes "predicative nouns" or "predicate nominatives"). What do they serve to do? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Yongle EncyclopediaIn 1403, Ming Dynasty emperor Yongle commissioned a massive encyclopedia project in an attempt to preserve Chinese culture and literature. About 8,000 texts were incorporated into the compendium, which covers an array of subjects including history, philosophy, art, science, and religion. Two thousand scholars worked to compile the encyclopedia, and the finished product contained nearly 23,000 manuscript rolls, or chapters, divided into more than 11,000 volumes. How many volumes survive today? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap Begins Its Record-Breaking Run (1952)When The Mousetrap opened in London, Christie, a legendary mystery author, predicted her play would run for just eight months. However, its initial run never ended, and it is now the longest-running play in the world. The murder mystery has been performed more than 24,000 times and is a popular tourist attraction. At the end of each performance, the audience is asked not to reveal the play's notorious twist ending. Who owns the rights to the play, and how did he get them? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Virgil Thomson (1896)An influential American music critic and composer, Thomson studied in Paris. There, he met Gertrude Stein, with whom he wrote the operas Four Saints in Three Acts and The Mother of Us All. He also wrote several film scores. As music critic for New York's Herald Tribune, he delivered gracefully written criticism that was respected for its concern with music rather than the performers. What unusual method of composition was Thomson known for reviving? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realized by those who suffered from it, and understood by those who contemplated it.Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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temper tantrum— An extreme and childish display of unreasonable anger, frustration, or distemper. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Catherine's Day (Estonia) (2025)Estonian folklorists believe that the customs associated with Kadripäev, or St. Catherine's Day, may date back to pre-Christian times. The holiday is strongly associated with women and their traditional activities, such as herding. People dress up in light-colored clothing, symbolizing winter's snow, and visit their neighbors, singing songs and offering blessings for the family's animals. In return, householders offer them cloth, wool, or food. An old superstition connected with the day forbade such activities as shearing as a means of protecting the sheep. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: usefulalpha version, preview version, beta version - Alpha version describes a development status that usually means the first complete version of a program or application, which is most likely unstable, but is useful to show what the product will do to, usually, a selected group—and is also called preview version; the beta version is usually the last version before wide release, often tested by users under real-world conditions. More... index fossil - One useful for dating and demonstrating the relation between strata in which it is found. More... putti - Cupids that make themselves useful, as in old paintings; the singular is putto. More... decorative arts - Any of the arts that create entities that are both useful and beautiful. More... | |
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