Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, June 27, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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snooze
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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MitigatorsMitigators are adverbs or adverbials that modify adjectives and adverbs to reduce their intensity, making them seem less extreme or powerful. What is the difference between mitigators and intensifiers? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Kelvin Water DropperThe Kelvin water dropper is an electrostatic generator that was invented in the 1860s by William Thomson—better known as Lord Kelvin. The device uses drops of water falling into separate buckets to generate opposite electrical charges, which will eventually discharge via an arc between the buckets. If the buckets are insulated from each other, they can become so charged that they may even fling the water droplets away before they land. How can one build such a device at home? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 World's First ATM Installed in Enfield, London (1967)ATMs, or automated teller machines, can be used by bank customers to process several different kinds of account transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, and fund transfers, and to review account statements and balances. Most consider the world's first ATM to be the one invented by John Shepherd-Barron and installed by Barclays Bank in North London on June 27, 1967. However, a mechanical bank deposit box, arguably an ATM, was installed in New York how many years earlier? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Helen Keller (1880)Blind and deaf from the age of two, Helen Keller was placed in the care of Anne Sullivan, who acted as her teacher and companion for 49 years. Under Sullivan's tutelage, Keller made rapid progress, eventually graduating from Radcliffe College with honors. She later became a world-famous lecturer and advocate for people with disabilities. The Miracle Worker, a play based on Keller's autobiography, chronicles her remarkable journey. What was the first word Keller learned? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Clock, n.: A machine of great moral value to man, allaying his concern for the future by reminding him what a lot of time remains to him.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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throw (some) shapes— slang To dance, especially to popular music. Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Tajikistan Day of National Unity (2022)On June 27, 1997, a treaty was signed between Islamic rebels and the Russian-backed Tajikistan government, bringing to an end a five-year-long civil war. The day is remembered as the Day of National Unity. On the Day of National Unity in 2007, the Tajik parliament passed a law granting amnesty to all rebels who had fought against the government, provided they had not committed murder, rape, human or drug trafficking, or terrorism. Some 2,000 prison inmates were released under the new law. The 2007 commemoration also marked the opening of 11 new buildings in the city of Dushanbe. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: jerkflounce - Can mean a sudden fling or jerk of the body or a limb. More... hike - As a walk, it evolved from its original meaning of "to jerk or pull" (oneself along). More... jerk - As in jerked meat (e.g. beef jerky), it is from American Spanish and Quechua charqui, "dried flesh." More... weight lifting, power lifting - Weight lifting is specifically the press, the clean and jerk, and the snatch; power lifting is the bench press, squat, and dead lift. More... | |