Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, June 15, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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remonstrance
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining ConjunctionsConjunctions are used to express relationships between things in a sentence, link different clauses together, and to combine sentences. By using different kinds of conjunctions, we are able to make more complex, sophisticated sentences that show a connection between actions and ideas. How many main types of conjunctions are there? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Tragedy of the CommonsA tragedy of the commons is a dilemma that results when multiple individuals, acting independently or focusing on their own self-interest, deplete a shared, limited resource, even though doing so is clearly not in the best interest of any of them. The phrase comes from the title of American ecologist Garrett Hardin's 1968 essay that introduced the concept. Hardin's primary example was animal herding on shared lands. On what grounds has Hardin's hypothetical model been criticized? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Charles Goodyear Granted Patent for Vulcanization (1844)Goodyear was the inventor of vulcanization, a process that makes rubber harder, less soluble, and more durable. Previously, rubber products were sticky and volatile, often melting in heat or hardening in cold. He obtained a patent for vulcanization in 1844 but was still badly in debt at the time of his death. Goodyear had no official connection to the famed Goodyear Tire Company, which was founded decades later and named in his honor. Why was he in prison when he began experimenting with rubber? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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_by_Erling_Mandelmann_-_2.jpg) Hugo Pratt (1927)Italian comic book author Hugo Pratt spent his early childhood in Venice and moved with his parents to Ethiopia when he was 10. Following WWII, he returned to Italy, but he did not remain there for long. Pratt traveled widely, and his wanderlust is mirrored in his best-known character, Corto Maltese, a roving sea captain and adventurer. A meticulous researcher, Pratt often incorporated actual historic figures and events into Maltese's fictional adventures. Where was Pratt imprisoned as a child? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 While solitude with dreams is glorious, solitude without them has few charms.Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have a nodding acquaintance (with someone or something)— To have a slight or precursory knowledge of someone or something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Valdemar Day (2025)According to legend, Danish King Valdemar II set out to conquer the pagan Estonians and convert them to Christianity. During the night of June 15, 1219, the Estonians made a surprise attack on the Danish camp. A red banner with a white cross floated down from the sky, and the Danish archbishop heard a voice say that the Danes would win if they raised this banner. Schools, sports organizations, and Boy Scout troops in Denmark often hold pageants on June 15 in which they reenact the story of the Dannebrog (the Danish flag) and King Valdemar. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: piercesashimi - Thinly sliced raw fish with a sauce, it is a compound formed from sashi, "pierce," and mi, "flesh." More... point - "Sharp end" is the etymological notion underlying point, from Latin pungere, "pierce, prick." More... stake - Meaning "post," it comes from a Germanic base meaning "pierce, prick." More... stick - Comes from Germanic meaning "be sharp, pierce, prick"; the piercing notion led to "becoming fixed in something" and then "adhering." More... | |