Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, August 3, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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heart-to-heart
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Multiple Prepositional PhrasesSentences can (and often do) have more than one prepositional phrase. How can you tell what kind of prepositional phrase each one is? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Newton's RingsWhen a curved glass surface, such as a convex lens, is placed against a flat piece of glass and illuminated by monochromatic light, a series of alternating bright and dark concentric bands, known as Newton’s rings, appears around the point of contact between the curved and flat glass. Though several scientists had observed the phenomenon before him, it was named for Isaac Newton, who analyzed it in detail. Why are the outer rings usually spaced more closely together than the inner rings? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The National Basketball Association Is Founded (1949)Prior to 1949, there were two main rival basketball organizations in the US—the National Basketball League, which had been founded in 1937, and the Basketball Association of America, which had been founded nearly a decade later. They merged to form the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1949 and racially integrated the following year. In 1995, the NBA expanded to include two Canadian teams, and in 1996, a women's league was founded. What rule, instituted in 1954, encouraged more shooting? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Elisha Graves Otis (1811)By 1852, Otis had already devised several inventions, including a safety brake for trains. While setting up a factory that year, he developed an automatic safety device to prevent heavy machinery from falling if a rope broke while the machinery was being hoisted. The first fail-safe, fall-safe passenger elevator quickly followed. It made possible the construction of skyscrapers, greatly altering the landscape of modern cities. What daring publicity stunt helped launch sales of Otis's elevators? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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pull a face (at someone)— To make a grimacing or humorously distorted facial expression (at someone). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Nebuta Matsuri (2024)Nebuta Matsuri, the main festival of Aomori Prefecture in Japan, features processions of huge, elaborately painted papier-mâché figures called nebuta. In the capital city of Aomori, the nebuta figures, up to 49 feet wide and 26 feet high, depict ferociously scowling samurai warriors. Illuminated from within by candles, they glow as they are carried through the streets at nightfall. Spectators wear hats made of flowers and dance in the streets. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: roomspied-a-terre - A small town house or rooms used for short residences (1829), from French "foot on the ground." More... party wall - A wall common to two adjoining buildings or rooms. More... lobby - One of its early meanings was "monastic cloister," from Latin lobia, "covered way," before it came to mean the passage or waiting area between rooms in a building. More... enfilade - A suite of rooms with doorways in line with each other—or a vista between rows of trees. More... | |