Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, May 13, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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flyaway
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Causative VerbsCausative verbs indicate that a person, place, or thing is causing an action or an event to happen. What are some examples of causative verbs? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 ElectricityElectrical phenomena, caused by the presence and flow of electric charge, have been studied since antiquity. Static electricity was the first of them to be recognized and investigated. As early as 600 BCE, certain cultures had discovered that rubbing amber with fur caused it to attract light objects such as feathers. Some 2,200 years later, English scientist William Gilbert coined the term "electricity" to describe the electrification of substances. How did he come up with the word? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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.svg.png) Ecuador Gains Independence from Gran Colombia (1830)Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, Ecuador was controlled by the Inca empire. Francisco Pizarro's subordinate, Benalcázar, entered the area in 1533. Not finding the wealth of the mythical El Dorado, he and other conquistadors moved restlessly on, and the region became a colonial backwater. Ecuador remained under Spanish control until 1822, when it was joined to Gran Colombia. With the dissolution of that union in 1830, Ecuador gained its independence. Why is 1859 called the "Terrible Year"? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ole Worm (1588)Worm was a Danish physician and antiquarian who was the personal physician of King Christian IV of Denmark and served Copenhagen during plague epidemics. Worm's chief contributions to medical science were in embryology. As a natural philosopher, he assembled a vast collection of stuffed and mounted animals, fossils, and other curiosities. A collector of early Scandinavian literature and texts written in the runic alphabet, he wrote extensively on rune stones. What are the Wormian bones? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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take a breather— To take a short pause or hiatus (from something). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Lemuralia (2022)In ancient Rome, the lemures were the ghosts of the family's dead, who were considered to be troublesome and therefore had to be exorcized on a regular basis. The Lemuralia, or Lemuria, was a yearly festival held on the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May to get rid of the lemures. Participants walked barefoot, cleansed their hands three times, and threw black beans behind them nine times to appease the spirits of the dead. On the third day of the festival, a merchants' festival was held to ensure a prosperous year for business. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: purposesall intents and purposes - A redundant phrase, created for emphasis. More... blamestorming - An intense discussion for the purposes of placing blame or assigning responsibility for a misdeed or failure. More... celebrant, celebrator, reveler - Celebrants take part in religious ceremonies; celebrators or revelers gather for purposes of revelry. More... teleology - The study of design in nature; the word's basic meaning is "the study of ends or purposes"—attempts to understand the purpose of a natural occurrence by looking at its results. More... | |
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