Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, July 9, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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bauble
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Choosing the Correct Demonstrative Adjective"This," "That," "These," and "Those" are the four common demonstrative adjectives in English. Which ones are used to refer to people and objects that are plural? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 MiddensAlso known as a kitchen midden or shell mound, a midden is a refuse heap containing the waste products of day-to-day human life left by a prehistoric settlement. Often found in coastal environments, middens were first studied in Denmark in 1848. Because their contents include artifacts that can be dated, they help archaeologists to determine the mode of life and technology of ancient peoples, typically from the late Mesolithic period. How do middens help to preserve the materials they contain? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US President Zachary Taylor Dies in Office (1850)On a hot 4th of July in Washington, DC, Taylor—who had been US president for just 16 months—enjoyed a cool snack of cherries and milk. Five days later, he was dead. The official cause of death was listed as gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and intestines that can be caused by food poisoning. His remains were exhumed in 1991 and showed no evidence of foul play. According to one historian, Taylor could have recovered had he not been bled, blistered, and given what cocktail of drugs? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Oliver Wolf Sacks (1933)Sacks is a British-American neurologist and writer. He immigrated to the US in 1960 to study neurology at the University of California, and in 1965 he joined the faculty at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Many of his books relate case histories of neurologically damaged people, particularly those afflicted with unusual conditions. His 1973 book Awakenings, which was made into a film in 1990, chronicles his efforts to treat the survivors of what mysterious sickness? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I would permit no man, no matter what his color might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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on (someone's) wrong side— Displeasing to someone; provoking someone's anger, contempt, or dismissal. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Savonlinna Opera Festival (2025)The Savonlinna Opera Festival is a month-long music festival in Savonlinna, Finland. Considered one of Europe's most important musical events, it began in 1967 with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio. In 1992, for its 25th anniversary, Fidelio was presented again, as well as George and Ira Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, produced by Opera Ebony of New York and conducted by Estonian maestro Eri Klas. The main site of the festival is the Olavinlinna Castle, the best-preserved medieval fortress in Finland. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: refrainballade - A verse or poem made up of three stanzas of equal length with a recurrent line or refrain at the end of each of the stanzas. More... condone - From Latin condonare, "refrain from punishing," it does not mean "approve of, endorse"; it means "let something pass without interference even though you probably disapprove," or "pardon, forgive, overlook." More... burden, refrain, chorus - The burden is the main theme or gist of a speech, book, or argument—or the refrain or chorus of a song. More... deport - The earliest sense of deport was "bear with; refrain." More... | |