Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, June 4, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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two-dimensional
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming a Compound Sentence with a SemicolonCompound sentences are made up of at least two independent clauses expressing closely related ideas of equal or similar importance. When can we join the clauses using a semicolon without a conjunction? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 PanspermiaPanspermia is the hypothesis that life originated elsewhere in the universe and spread to Earth, and perhaps other places, on objects like asteroids. Astrobiologists, who investigate the possibility of life in space, point out that some microorganisms can, in fact, survive in space but that the long distances between planets would make surviving an interplanetary trip quite difficult, even for extremophiles. What tiny invertebrate was sent into orbit and survived exposure to the vacuum of space? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Chinese Warlord Zhang Zuolin Is Assassinated (1928)Zhang was a Chinese warlord who became ruler of Manchuria with the tacit support of the Japanese after his militia backed them in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904–05. By the mid-1920s, his Fengtien army had gained power in Beijing, but Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalists forced him out in 1928, and the Japanese began to doubt his authority over his Chinese countrymen. He was assassinated during his retreat to Shenyang when his train was bombed. Who planted the bomb, and why? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 François Quesnay (1694)While serving as consulting physician to Louis XV at Versailles, Quesnay developed an interest in economics. In his 1758 Tableau économique, he described the relationship between the different economic classes of society and the flow of payments among them, and he developed the concept of economic balance used by many later economic analysts. An advocate of laissez-faire economics, he believed that all wealth originated with the land. What school of economics is he credited with founding? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Be so true to thyself as thou be not false to others.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a modest proposal— An extreme, unorthodox, and often provocative or distasteful remedy to a complex problem, generally suggested humorously or satirically. (An allusion to Jonathan Swift's 1729 essay A Modest Proposal, in which he suggests that the poor of Ireland could alleviate their woes by selling their children as food.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Tonga Emancipation Day (2025)June 4 is a national holiday in the Kingdom of Tonga, celebrating its full independence from Britain. On June 4, 1863, King George Tupuo I abolished the system of serfdom in the island nation of Tonga. The historic occasion is remembered on Emancipation Day, which is celebrated just after the conclusion of the annual three-day Ha'apai Festival. The Ha'apai Festival begins on Tonga's outer islands and ends on Lifuka Island on June 4th. Both the festival and Emancipation Day are marked with feasts and dancing. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: mirrorcheval glass - A tall mirror swung on an upright frame that takes its name from French cheval, "horse"—a synonym for "supporting framework," which describes this mirror. More... catoptric - Means pertaining to a mirror, reflection, or reflector. More... mirage - From French se mirer, "be reflected," from Latin mirare, "look at"—the same root used in mirror. More... heliography - Using a mirror to send a signal. More... | |