Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, March 10, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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detriment
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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MitigatorsMitigators are adverbs or adverbials that modify adjectives and adverbs to reduce their intensity, making them seem less extreme or powerful. What is the difference between mitigators and intensifiers? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Piña ColadasThe Piña Colada is a sweet cocktail made of rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice blended with crushed ice and typically garnished with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry. Its name means "strained pineapple" in Spanish. Several bartenders claim ownership of the drink, which was created in Puerto Rico and has been the country's official beverage since 1978. There are many variations on the cocktail, such as the coconut-free "Staten Island Ferry,” and the "Lava Flow," which contains what? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 French Foreign Legion Founded (1831)The French Foreign Legion is a unit of the French Army largely composed of foreigners and commanded by French officers. It was created by King Louis Phillipe in 1831 to keep potential dissidents busy fighting for France rather than against it. Because enlistment historically required no official identification, many criminals joined under assumed names to hide their unsavory backgrounds. What are the two ways foreign-born legionnaires can earn the right to apply for French citizenship? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 James Earl Ray (1928)Ray was a petty criminal who escaped from prison in 1967, while serving a sentence for armed robbery. On April 4, 1968, he is believed to have shot Martin Luther King, Jr., as King was emerging from his Memphis motel room. Ray then fled to Canada, England, Portugal, and back to England, where he was apprehended. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison but later recanted his confession. His unsuccessful pleas to have his case reopened were supported by which of King's relatives? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Freedom is not the right to live as we please, but the right to find how we ought to live in order to fulfill our potential.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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be on (one's) conscience— To be a persistent cause or source of guilt, such as an act of wrongdoing. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Shwedagon Pagoda Festival (2020)The people of Myanmar celebrate their local pagodas or temples on the full moon day in the month of Tabaung (February-March in the Gregorian calendar). The largest celebration is held at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the former capital city of Myanmar. Visitors to the pagoda take the opportunity to make offerings and to pray. This ancient temple, which is more than 2,500 years old, is 300 feet tall and has a dome covered in gold and precious jewels. The dome, with its two tons of gold and more than 5,000 diamonds, glitters so brightly that it can often be seen by airplanes flying overhead. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: zeroaught - Another word for "nothing, zero." More... zero, cipher - Zero and cipher come from Arabic sifr, "nought, zero," from Sanskrit sunya, "empty." More... lay an egg - The egg in "to lay an egg" refers to "zero." More... googol - Coined when mathematician Edward Kasner asked his nephew to create a word for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. More... | |