Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, February 22, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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benignity
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Prepositions of TimeA preposition of time describes when or for how long something occurred or will occur. What are the three most common prepositions of time? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 StraboStrabo was a 1st-century Greek geographer, historian, and philosopher. Almost all of his works on ancient history have been lost, but his Geographica, published circa 14 CE, has survived. A practical guide to the world at that time, it contains historical material, maps, and rich descriptions of cultures that have since vanished. It is the only extant text describing the peoples and places known to Greeks and Romans during the reign of Augustus. How far did Strabo travel for his research? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Securitas Depot Robbery (2006)In an elaborate heist that took place over the course of several hours, the manager of the Securitas bank depot in Kent, England, was abducted along with his family and forced by a gang of masked, armed men to help steal approximately £53 million. In the process, 14 other staff members at the depot were held captive. It was the largest robbery in British history, and dozens of people would eventually be arrested in connection with it. What had previously been the UK's largest cash robbery? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, AKA Zitkala-Sa (1876)Born to a Sioux mother and white father, Bonnin was raised on a reservation in present-day South Dakota. When she was eight, she was sent to a Quaker missionary school for Native Americans and was profoundly affected by the school's efforts to suppress students' cultural identity and assimilate them into mainstream American culture. As an adult, she dedicated herself to preserving Native American culture through her writing and political activism. What is the meaning of her pen name, Zitkala-Sa? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Of ambitions, it is less harmful, the ambition to prevail in great things, than that other, to appear in every thing; for that breeds confusion, and mars business.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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quake like a leaf— To tremble violently with fear or nervousness. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Abu Simbel Festival (2022)This festival celebrates the two days of the year on which the light of the rising sun can reach the 180-foot-deep innermost chambers of Abu Simbel, the great temple of Ramesses II, in Egypt. The temple was designed so that only on these two days in February and October does the sun shine on three of the four gods in the sanctuary: Amen-Re, Ramses, and Re-Horakhty. It is thought that there must have been ritual celebrations in ancient times on the days when the sun penetrated the sanctuary. Today, television covers the event, and people gather to see the sunrise and to meditate. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: losingidiot strings - Refers to the strings that attach mittens to prevent a child from losing one. More... in hock - Can be traced to the card game faro, in which the last card in the box was called the hocketty card; when a player bet on a card that ended up in hock, he was at a disadvantage and was himself in hock and at risk of losing his bets. More... jeopardy - Comes from French ieu parti, "(evenly) divided game" (from Latin jocus partitus, "divided game"), referring originally to chess, in which the chances of winning and losing are balanced. More... pain - Originally meant punishment for a crime or offense—sometimes by losing one's head. More... | |