Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, July 29, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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purloin
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Ungradable AdjectivesUngradable adjectives are adjectives that can't move up and down on a scale of intensity. "Married" and "dead" are both ungradable adjectives. Can ungradable adjectives be used in the comparative form? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 ParallaxParallax is the apparent change in the position of an object resulting from a change in the position of the observer. The effect is useful in calculating the distances of stars from Earth, as stars appear to shift in relation to each other from different points in Earth's orbit. Parallax can affect the accuracy of photographers and snipers, who may see a target from an angle different than that of their instruments. What does parallax have to do with why pigeons bob their heads? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Discovery of Dwarf Planet Eris Is Announced (2005)Though Eris was first photographed in 2003, scientists working at the Palomar Observatory did not realize that they had captured pictures of a previously unknown planet until re-analyzing the images in 2005. That year, news of the newly discovered planet was announced. Slightly larger than Pluto, the icy dwarf planet has its own moon, Dysnomia, and is one of the most distant objects in the solar system. Before its official naming in 2006, it was popularly known by the name of what TV character? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Dag Hammarskjöld (1905)The only person to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize posthumously, Hammarskjöld was the second Secretary General of the United Nations. In this role, he greatly extended the influence of the United Nations and personally led peace missions, though he clashed with the Soviet Union for his vigorous attempts to diffuse civil strife in the newly independent Congo. He served as Secretary General until his death in a mysterious plane crash in 1961. What conspiracy theories surround his death? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Belladonna, n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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like piffy on a rock bun— Conspicuous but ignored or left out, especially from a group or activity. (A "rock bun" or "rock cake" is a type of hard cake with currants; what "piffy" refers to is unknown.) Primarily heard in UK. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Coffin Fiesta of St. Martha (2025)St. Martha was the sister of Mary and Lazarus who pleaded with Jesus to bring her brother back to life. Jesus did so, and folk beliefs often assign her the power of granting miraculous cures. In San Xosé de Ribarteme, in the province of Pontevedra in Galicia, Spain, ofrecidos—people who have made a vow to St. Martha—lie in open coffins during a procession on St. Martha's feast day. Usually, they or a member of their family has recently been cured by St. Martha's intervention. Most wear coarse net tunics called mortajas (shrouds) to indicate that they represent the "living dead." More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: inhabitantinfernal - An inhabitant of the underworld can be called an infernal. More... sherpa - Literally means "inhabitant of an eastern country." More... aborigine - From Classical Latin meaning "ancestors," it was spelled with a capital A as the name of the primeval Romans; the first people called aborigines were the original inhabitants of Italy and Greece and aborigine was specifically applied to the inhabitants of a country ab origine, "from the beginning." More... sylvans - Natives or inhabitants of forests or woods. More... | |