Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, December 29, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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finagle
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Conjugations of "Be"Linking verbs are used to describe the state of being of the subject of a clause. The verb "to be" is the most common linking verb. Unique among English verbs, "be" has eight different conjugations. Can you name them all? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Bone-Eating Snot FlowerOsedax is a genus of polychaete—sea worm—that feeds on the bones of whale carcasses. Possessing neither stomachs nor mouths, members of the Osedax genus rely on symbiotic species of bacteria to digest whale fat and oils and to release nutrients that they can absorb through unusual root-like structures. One species is known as the "bone-eating snot flower" after its scientific name, Osedax mucofloris. When were these strange creatures first discovered? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 WWII: Germans Firebomb the City of London (1940)By the end of the Blitz—Germany's eight-month nighttime bombing campaign in Britain—tens of thousands of people were dead and millions of homes lay in ruins. For about a two-month period, the country faced nightly attacks. One of the worst raids occurred on December 29, when much of London—including such historic landmarks as St. Paul's Cathedral and the Guildhall—was destroyed or damaged by bombs and the fires they started. How many children were evacuated to the countryside during the Blitz? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Carmen Sylva (1843)In 1869, Elisabeth of Wied, the daughter of a German prince, married the future king of Romania, Carol I. An artistic and imaginative queen consort, she wrote prolifically—in four languages—under the pseudonym Carmen Sylva. She composed poetry, plays, novels, and essays, at times collaborating with her lady-in-waiting. Her 1882 collection of witty aphorisms won a French literary award. Despite knowing it was illegal, she is said to have encouraged her nephew—the heir to the throne—to do what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 It seems to me a hard case to make slaves of those whom God and nature have made free.Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be (someone's) call— To be ultimately left up to someone to decide. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Dattatreya Jayanti (2020)Dattatreya's birthday is celebrated all over India. Hindus rise early and bathe in sacred streams, fast, and spend the day in worship and prayer. They also meditate on sacred works that include the Avadhuta Gita and Jivanmukta Gita. Recently, Dattatreya is identified with the triad of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, for it is believed that portions of these deities were incarnated in him. He is usually depicted with three heads and six hands. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mineraldiamond - Developed from adamant—the name of the hardest stone or mineral of ancient times—from Latin adamans, from Greek adamas, "invincible" (a-, "not," and daman, "to tame"). More... Formica - Got its name from being created as a substitute "for mica," a mineral. More... mineral - Etymologically "something obtained by mining," from Latin minera, "ore." More... snow - Technically a mineral, it is Teutonic in origin, from an Indo-European root shared by the Latin words niv-/nix and Greek nipha; the spelling snow first appeared in English around 1200. More... | |