Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, January 2, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pergola
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Ending Exclamatory SentencesExclamation points are most often used in place of periods to end declarative sentences that express a very strong emotion, such as anger, excitement, surprise, or disgust. What are such sentences sometimes called? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 EnzymesAn essential part of almost all cellular processes, enzymes are biological catalysts, proteins that can accelerate the rates of chemical reactions by several orders of magnitude. Enzymes serve a wide variety of functions inside living organisms, especially in the digestive systems of animals, where they help break down large molecules like starches and proteins. Like a key for a lock, each enzyme is specific to one molecule. What household products use enzymes to speed up biochemical reactions? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Mercurius becomes Pope John II (533 CE)Though Catholics today are accustomed to the pope taking a new name once elected, Mercurius was the first to do so. As his birth name honored the pagan god Mercury, he chose to become John II upon elevation to the papacy. Though he died just two years later, he served at a time when sacred artifacts were regularly being sold and simony—the purchase or sale of church offices or preferment—was rampant in the selection of church officials. What other scandals did John face in his brief tenure? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Mehmed IV (1642)After the deposition and murder of his father, Sultan Ibrahim, 7-year-old Mehmed IV ascended the throne of the Ottoman Empire. Chaos and corruption followed, and though grand vizier Mehmed Köprülü managed to restore order, the empire suffered severe setbacks. In 1683, the Turks besieged Vienna but were repulsed by King John III of Poland, and a Holy League was formed to carry the war into Ottoman territory. Mehmed was deposed after a Turkish defeat by Charles V of Lorraine. Who succeeded him? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Wealth should not be seized...for if a man take great wealth violently and perforce, or if he steal it through his tongue, as often happens when gain deceives men's sense and dishonor tramples down honor, the gods soon blot him out and make that man's house low, and wealth attends him only for a little time.Homer (900 BC-800 BC) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be not in Kansas anymore— To no longer be in a place that one knows or where one is comfortable; to be in a completely unfamiliar and/or discomfiting environment. A reference to The Wizard of Oz, in which Dorothy, upon arriving to Oz, says, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Berchtold's Day (2022)In Switzerland, the day after New Year's Day is known as Berchtoldstag and is celebrated primarily by children. Groups of playmates organize parties that feature nut eating and nut games followed by singing and folk dancing. A popular game is the building of "hocks" composed of four nuts placed close together with a fifth balanced on top. The children begin gathering and stockpiling nuts for Berchtold's Day festivities early in the fall. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: yesterdayhestern, hesternal - Hestern or hesternal means "pertaining to yesterday." More... nudiustertian - Pertaining to the day before yesterday. More... pridian - "Of or relating to a previous day or yesterday; former." More... yesterday - The yester of yesterday and yesteryear was a word on its own, meaning "yesterday," but by Old English it had become a collocation with "day." More... | |