Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, October 27, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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djinni
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using En Dashes to Indicate a Range of ValuesThe most common use of the en dash is to connect two numbers, dates, or times to indicate a range that spans these figures. When it is used in this way, we can think of the en dash as representing what words? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 PrintmakingPrintmaking is the process of creating an image, called an impression, by inking a prepared plate or woodblock and pressing it against another material. Invented in China in the 5th century, the woodcut was both the earliest printmaking method and the first process that allowed printmakers to produce multiple copies of a text or artwork. Later, techniques involving engraved or etched metal plates were developed. What is the reductionist approach to applying multiple colors to an impression? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Italian Public Administrator Enrico Mattei Dies in Plane Crash (1962)After World War II, Mattei was given the task of dismantling the Italian Petroleum Agency, a Fascist state enterprise. Instead, Mattei enlarged and reorganized it into the Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI), or National Fuel Trust. Under his direction, ENI developed large deposits of natural gas in Italy and negotiated important oil concessions in the Middle East. Mattei became a powerful figure in Italy before he died in a plane crash in 1962. What conspiracy theories exist about his death? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sylvia Plath (1932)American poet Sylvia Plath excelled as a writer from an early age and published her first poem at eight. She attempted suicide while in college but underwent electroshock treatment and seemingly recovered from her breakdown. In 1956, she wed poet Ted Hughes, whom she met while attending Cambridge on a Fulbright grant. Shortly after they separated in 1962, Plath committed suicide. Her literary reputation grew rapidly after her death, and she became the first poet to win what prize posthumously? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Some people are born with a vital and responsive energy. It not only enables them to keep abreast of the times; it qualifies them to furnish in their own personality a good bit of the motive power to the mad pace.Kate Chopin (1851-1904) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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Elvis has left the building— Said when an event or performance has come to an end, or when someone or something has left a place, especially in a dramatic fashion. The phrase refers to an announcement famously made at the end of Elvis Presley concerts alerting people that he vacated the premises and no further encores would be played. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Karwa Chauth (2018)Observed by married women in Hindu families, the Karwa Chauth festival is a day-long fast in honor of the Hindu god Shiva and goddess Parvati, whom they hope will bring prosperity and long life to their husbands. It is also a time for mothers to bless their married daughters and present them with gifts. Virgins and widows are not allowed to participate in the celebrations, which begin at dawn when the women bathe and put on new clothes. The day is devoted to worshipping Shiva and Parvati, and the fast is broken at night when the moon rises. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: podpod - A group of whales (or seals or dolphins), or a small flock of birds. More... boll weevil - From Old English wifel, "beetle," and boll, the pod of the cotton plant, which this beetle attacks. More... chalice - From Latin calix, "cup," and Greek kalux, "pod." More... vanilla - Once thought to be an aphrodisiac because its pod resembled the vagina; its name comes from the Spanish for "little vagina." More... | |