Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, December 24, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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downswing
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Omitting Text in the Middle of the SentenceOccasionally, an omission of text may span across two or more sentences. If the quotation divides into two complete sentences with omitted material in between, we use a period to terminate the first sentence (even if the original sentence has been shortened) followed by an ellipsis and the second quoted sentence. What is this sometimes known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Looted ArtFor millennia, artworks have been looted during times of war. By the time Alexander the Great invaded Egypt in 332 BCE, the tombs of almost all the Pharaohs had already been looted, and as recently as the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, thieves looted Baghdad's national museum. Much of the Louvre's collection was amassed through Napoleon's systematic plundering, an example the Nazis followed in WWII, looting an estimated 20% of the art in Europe. What happened to this art after Germany's defeat? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Ku Klux Klan Is Formed (1865)The Ku Klux Klan is the name of two distinct secret societies that played a part in American history. The first Klan was an organization that thrived in the South during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. The second was a nationwide organization that flourished after World War I. Subsequent groups calling themselves the Ku Klux Klan sprang up in much of the South after World War II and in response to civil-rights activity during the 1960s. How did the Ku Klux Klan gets its name? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Isidor Feinstein Stone (1907)Stone worked on several newspapers in his native Philadelphia and in New York before starting his own investigative newsletter, I. F. Stone's Weekly. It was believed to have an influence far greater than the size of its readership, which included some of the nation's most prominent politicians, academicians, and journalists. The sole author, Stone created a unique blend of wit and pointed political commentary. After his death, Stone was alleged to have been a secret agent for what nation? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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go to the mattresses— To enter into or prepare for a lengthy war, battle, or conflict; to adopt a combative or warlike position. While the true origin is uncertain, the phrase was popularized in English by The Godfather novel and films, where it referred to warring mafia families housing their soldiers in small, secure apartments to await orders. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Christmas Eve (Finland) (2019)Before sitting down to the traditional Christmas Eve dinner, many Finns go to church and place flowers and lighted candles on the graves of departed family members. Then the family gathers around the table and listens to the head of the household read a Christmas prayer. The meal itself includes lipeäkala (the Christmas fish) and ham, various breads, a kind of plum cake known as torttuja, and the traditional rice pudding in which an almond has been hidden. According to superstition, the boy or girl who finds it will be married before the next Christmas. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: proteinalbumen, albumin - Albumen is the white of an egg, from Latin albus, "white"; albumin is a protein within the albumen. More... protein - Pronounced PRO-teen or PRO-tee-un, it comes from Greek proteios, "primary," as these compounds are essential to all living organisms. More... protoplasm - A mixture of organic and inorganic substances, such as protein and water, it is regarded as the physical basis of life. More... textured vegetable protein - A protein obtained from soy beans and made to resemble minced meat. More... | |