Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, September 11, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pedantic
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Forming the Future Perfect TenseWe use the future perfect tense to say that something will finish or be completed at a specific point in the future. What is the most common way we create the future perfect tense? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Prince Rupert's DropsPrince Rupert's Drops are formed when molten glass is dripped into cold water. The glass forms a tadpole-shaped droplet with a long, thin tail, and when the inside cools, it contracts, pressing against the already-solid outer part. Due to the residual stress, the extremely hard bulbous part can withstand a blow from a hammer, but if the tail is damaged even slightly, the entire drop shatters explosively into a fine powder. Prince Rupert did not invent the drops, so why are they named for him? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 9/11 Terrorist Attacks (2001)On September 11, 2001, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes. They crashed two planes into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York City and flew a third into the Pentagon building in Virginia. Passengers on the fourth flight attempted to retake control of the aircraft, but it crashed in a Pennsylvania field. The devastating terrorist attacks of 9/11 were responsible for 2,996 deaths and countless more injuries. What were the environmental consequences of 9/11? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Pierre de Ronsard (1524)Now considered one of the greatest French poets, Ronsard first served as a page and a squire and seemed destined for a career at court both in France and abroad. However, an illness left him partially deaf, and he turned to scholarship and literature. Named poet royal, the "prince of poets" wrote a great number of poems on many themes, especially patriotism, love, and death. He led a group of poets who cultivated the sonnet form and took the name of what earlier group of poets and tragedians? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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let (the) perfect be the enemy of (the) good— To allow the demand, desire, or insistence for perfection to decrease the chances of obtaining a good or favorable result in the end. (Usually used in the negative as an imperative.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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.jpg) Patriot Day (2024)Patriot Day in the United States commemorates the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, in New York City, Washington, DC, and in the skies above Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Each year, the president proclaims a day of national observance in memory of the more than 2,700 people who lost their lives in the attacks. Throughout the nation, flags are flown at half-staff, and a moment of silence is observed at 8:46 AM, Eastern time, the exact moment the first plane flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: sentcoals to Newcastle - Something brought or sent to a place where it is already plentiful; it is a reference to the English town of Newcastle upon Tyne, historically a major coal exporter. More... envoy - Pronounced EN-voy, it literally means "sent on one's way." More... epistle - From Greek epistole, "something sent to someone." More... India ink - Originally applied to Chinese and Japanese pigments made into solid blocks and sent to Europe through India. More... | |