Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, October 16, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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contentious
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Adverbial PhrasesAn adverbial phrase (also known as an adverb phrase) is group of words that functions as an adverb in a sentence. What is a mitigator? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Eusapia PalladinoBorn in Italy in 1854, Palladino was a Spiritualist medium who travelled the world hosting séances at which tables seemed to levitate and spirits supposedly appeared. Many notable people—including Pierre Curie and Arthur Conan Doyle—became devotees of her. Despite performing under strict conditions that she could control, Palladino was repeatedly exposed as a fraud who pulled stunts like lifting tables with her feet. This prompted some to hold down her shoes during séances. What did she do then? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 World Food Day (1981)More than 150 countries celebrate World Food Day every year on October 16, the anniversary of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. World Food Day aims to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and to promote cooperation in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. It has been observed since 1981 with different themes each year, such as "United against Hunger" and "The Right to Food." What was the theme of the first World Food Day? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Oscar Wilde (1854)Wilde was an Irish poet, novelist, and playwright who mocked social conventions and scandalized English society with his unorthodox ideas and conduct. He is best known for his sophisticated, witty plays, among them Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, about a handsome young man who purchases eternal youth at the expense of his soul. Why did Wilde spend his final years living abroad under an assumed name? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 As a man without forethought scarcely deserves the name of a man, so forethought without reflection is but a metaphorical phrase for the instinct of a beast.Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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move through the gears— To steadily increase one's momentum, as of speed, intensity, progress, or success. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 World Food Day (2021)Proclaimed in 1979 by the conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, World Food Day is designed to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and to promote cooperation in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. October 16 is the anniversary of the founding of the FAO in Rome, Italy, in 1945. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: reputationroorback - A false report made to damage the reputation of a political candidate. More... character, reputation - Character is what one is; reputation is what one is thought to be by others. More... denigrate - From Latin de- and nigare, "blacken," it first meant "make black or dark in color," and came to mean "blacken the reputation of." More... | |