Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, May 28, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Possessive Determiners vs. Possessive Personal PronounsPossessive determiners are often confused with possessive personal pronouns ("mine," "yours," "his," "hers," "its," "ours," "theirs") since some of the forms overlap. How do possessive pronouns differ from possessive determiners? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Barber PoleDuring medieval times, barbers also functioned as doctors and dentists, performing surgeries, bloodlettings, and tooth extractions. The original barber's pole had brass basins at the top and bottom, representing the vessel that held the leeches used in bloodletting procedures and the one that received the blood. The pole itself represents the staff patients gripped to encourage blood flow, while its red and white stripes symbolize bandages. What does the blue stripe on US barber poles represent? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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_-_The_Last_Supper_(1495-1498).jpg) The Last Supper Back on Display after Two-Decade Restoration (1999)By the 1970s, Leonardo da Vinci's 15th-century mural masterpiece, The Last Supper, was badly deteriorated. Italian officials then undertook a major restoration project to permanently stabilize the painting and reverse the damage. The painting's original form was determined using original sketches and scientific tests, including infrared reflectoscopy and microscopic core-samples. The restoration took 21 years, and the painting was put back on display in 1999. Where is it located? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807)Agassiz was a Swiss-born naturalist and geologist. Noticing the presence of huge alpine boulders in areas of Switzerland where there are no glaciers, he hypothesized that glaciers had, at one time, been widespread in the area and had dragged the boulders there. This lent credence to his theory of a recent ice age. He was also a renowned teacher and did notable work with fossils. Agassiz was a lifelong opponent, on religious grounds, of what now-accepted scientific theory? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 To speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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mind (one's) manners— To be well behaved and act appropriately. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Ethiopia National Day (2025)A military junta called the Derg brought an end to the Ethiopian Empire and Haile Selassie's rule on September 12, 1974. The Derg socialist military regime was overthrown by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1991, commemorated by the May 28 holiday. A constitution was adopted in 1994 and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: recalllethologica - If you cannot recall the precise word for something, you have a case of lethologica, which may lead you to an obsession with trying to recall it—loganamnosis. More... remember - From Latin rememorari, "recall to mind." More... reduce, reduct - Reduce first meant "bring back or recall in memory" or "take back or refer (a thing) to its origin," from Latin reducere, "lead back"; reduct means "simplify." More... tartle - From Scottish, to hesitate in recognizing a person or thing, as happens when you are introduced to someone whose name you cannot recall; so you say, "Pardon my tartle!" More... | |