Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, July 20, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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preponderance
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Interjections and PunctuationAn interjection is a word, phrase, or sound used to convey an emotion such as surprise, excitement, happiness, or anger. As interjections are capable of standing alone, they can be punctuated with a period, an exclamation point, or a question mark. How do we choose which punctuation to use? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The HabiruSumerian, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hittite, Mitanni, and Ugaritic sources recorded roughly 3,200 to 4,000 years ago mention the Habiru, a group of people found throughout the Fertile Crescent, which spanned the Levant, Mesopotamia, and ancient Egypt. Depending on the source and epoch, the Habiru are variously described as nomads, rebels, outlaws, mercenaries, bowmen, slaves, or migrant laborers. Though opinion remains divided on this issue, some scholars associate the Habiru with what ethnic group? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Transylvanian Noble György Dózsa Roasted and Eaten as Punishment (1514)Known for his wartime valor, Dózsa was tasked with leading an army for Pope Leo X's crusade in 1514. Though he assembled some 100,000 peasants, plans for the crusade were suddenly suspended. The peasants refused to disband, deciding instead to avenge mistreatment by their landlords. Rebellion quickly became full-scale revolution, with Dózsa's troops murdering nobles and burning castles. When the peasants were finally stopped at Temesvár, he was tortured in what bizarre way before being eaten? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (1919)Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer who, with Tenzing Norgay of Nepal, became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. Following the expedition, Hillary founded the Himalayan Trust, which built many schools and hospitals for the Sherpa people of Nepal. He continued climbing, later participated in the first crossing of Antarctica by vehicle, and even searched for the legendary abominable snowman in 1960. What unusual profession did Hillary have when not mountaineering? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Diplomacy, n.: The patriotic art of lying for one's country.Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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salty dog— A sailor, especially a man, who is older and/or has had a lot of experience on the seas. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Colombia Independence Day (2018)On the day they celebrate their independence from Spain, Colombians in the capital city of Bogotá often visit a historic place known as La Casa del Florero (The House of the Flowerpot). It was here that a Colombian storekeeper refused to lend a large flowerpot to the Spaniards. A riot ensued—the beginning of the revolt against Spain. There are Independence Day parades throughout the country on July 20. Schoolchildren march in their uniforms, and dancers perform in the costumes of their region. In the afternoon, people watch athletic games and listen to singing groups perform folk songs. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: swordsheath - Seems to have first been a split stick that a sword could be inserted into. More... spades - As a suit in a deck of cards, it has nothing to do with spades as tools, but comes from Spanish espada, "sword." More... spay - A shortening of a French word espeer, meaning "cut with a sword." More... gladiator, gladiate - The main Latin word for sword was gladius, from which came gladiator; gladiate is an adjective meaning sword-shaped. More... | |
| In the News | |
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As Doctored Photos Flood the Internet, Human Vision Struggles to Keep UpExperts estimate that humans take more than 1 trillion photos a year, and that we’re uploading them to Facebook (let alone the rest of the Internet) at a rate of 4,000 per second. How many of these images have been altered, doctored or outright faked? We’ll ... More... | |