Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, January 10, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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insipid
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Identifying Auxiliary VerbsAuxiliary verbs are verbs that add functional meaning to other "main" verbs in a clause. Auxiliary verbs can be identified by two main criteria. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 SaloSalo is often cited in European humor as a stereotypical staple of Ukrainian cuisine, analogous to the association of cheeseburgers with the US and bratwurst with Germany. The beloved traditional dish consists of smoked or salt-cured slabs of pork fatback, often flavored with paprika or garlic. It contains little to no meat and is usually consumed raw. It can also be rendered for use in cooking or chopped up for use as a condiment. What salo-based dish was invented as a joke? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 28,800 Floating Bath Toys Topple into Ocean (1992)Children's bath toys may seem an unlikely source of oceanographic data, but that is just what they have been since 1992, when a shipment of Friendly Floatees from China went rogue while en route to Tacoma, Washington. It all began when 12 shipping containers went overboard during a storm in the Pacific. One broke open, releasing 28,800 toy ducks, beavers, frogs, and turtles into the water. Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer began tracking their progress after the first Floatees washed ashore where? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835)Japanese author, educator, and publisher Fukuzawa Yukichi grew up during a tumultuous time in Japan, as Western powers began infiltrating the country and the Japanese people's hostility toward the ruling shogunate grew. Fukuzawa—who was intrigued by the West—traveled to the US on a diplomatic mission in 1860 and afterward became involved in Japan's Meiji Restoration, which restored the emperor to power and rapidly modernized the country. What is considered Fukuzawa's most important contribution? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be on (the) air— To be broadcasting live, as on television or radio. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Benin National Vodoun Day (2022)Vodoun is an ancient, African, pantheistic religion. When it was brought to the Americas by African slaves, it was blended with elements of Christianity into what is known as "Voodoo." The present African country of Benin, situated on the former kingdom of Dahomey, is known as a center of Vodoun culture. The day is celebrated throughout Benin with processions, Vodoun rituals, dances, and even an international film festival. The celebration's central activity, however, is the re-enactment of the journey from the slave auction block in the center of town to the ships in the harbor. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: musical instrumentpiano word - One in which all of its letters can be played as notes on a musical instrument (e.g. cabbage). More... cord, chord - Cord comes from Greek khorde, "gut, string of a musical instrument," and chord is a refashioning of cord. More... sweet potato - An informal name for the ocarina, a musical instrument. More... tone color - The same as timbre, the quality of sound that distinguishes one voice or musical instrument from another. More... | |