Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, July 11, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
corporeal
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
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 | |
|---|---|
 Plant ReproductionUnlike animals, plants are immobile and cannot actively seek out partners for reproduction. The first plants were aquatic and used abiotic factors, like water and wind, to carry male gametes to female reproductive structures. As plants moved from water onto land, they developed motile sperm cells that could travel via a thin film of water. Eventually, many plants evolved the pollen and seed structures common today. How do some plants attract the insect pollinators vital to their reproduction? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 UK Court Finds Gay News and Its Editor Guilty of Blasphemy (1977)The June 3, 1976, issue of the British newspaper Gay News included James Kirkup's poem "The Love that Dares to Speak Its Name," which depicts Jesus as a homosexual. Mary Whitehouse—a media watchdog known for her "Clean Up TV" campaign—described the poem as a "blasphemous libel" and sought charges against Gay News and its publisher, Denis Lemon. On July 11, 1977, a jury found Lemon guilty, and his later appeal to the House of Lords was unsuccessful. What was Lemon's sentence? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Elwyn Brooks "E. B." White (1899)After starting his writing career as a reporter, White settled in New York and became known for his impeccable prose style as a contributing editor of New Yorker magazine. Talented in diverse genres, he collaborated with James Thurber on satire, wrote the classic children's books Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web, and revised William Strunk Jr.'s grammar and composition text The Elements of Style, which became a definitive writing guide. How did White know Strunk? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 We are, and must be, one and all, burdened with faults in this world: but the time will soon come when, I trust, we shall put them off in putting off our corruptible bodies; when debasement and sin will fall from us with this cumbrous frame of flesh, and only the spark of the spirit will remain.Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
not have a penny to (one's) name— To be extremely poor; to have very little or no money to spend. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
 World Population Day (2018)World Population Day was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme to focus public attention on the issue of population growth. Schools, businesses, and organizations around the world are urged to observe July 11 with speeches, programs, and activities that address population issues and encourage people to think of solutions to the health, social, and economic problems associated with population growth. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: supportedwhatnot - A series of open shelves supported by two or four upright posts, for displaying knickknacks. More... oriel - A large, upper-story bay window, usually supported by brackets or on corbels. More... portico - Describes a covered walkway with a roof supported by columns and usually attached as a porch to a building. More... felly, felloe - The felly or felloe is the exterior rim on a wheel or the section of rim supported by a spoke. More... | |
| In the News | |
|---|---|
Life on Mars? Study Showing Martian Soil Kills Bacteria Dims HopesRecent images and other compelling evidence that water once flowed on Mars have generated hope of finding microbial life there. That hope has been dealt a blow by a new study showing the soil surface is toxic to bacteria. Astrobiologists—researchers ... More... | |