Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, March 10, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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get-go
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using the Past PerfectIf we are highlighting that the action or event in the past perfect tense came before another action or event, this second verb is often (but not always) in the past simple tense. The past perfect can appear in a sentence either before or after a later action or event. Regardless of its position, what does the past perfect always refer to? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 MortsafesIn the early 19th century, a sharp rise in the number of anatomy schools in Scotland was followed by a marked increase in the incidence of grave robbing, which filled the growing need for dissection subjects. Revelations about the practice led to public outrage, and, around 1816, to the invention of mortsafes—heavy, iron contraptions placed over the graves of the newly deceased to deter body snatchers. What was one of the only ways these anatomy schools could obtain cadavers legitimately? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Batista Leads a Successful Coup in Cuba (1952)Fulgencio Batista worked his way up through the Cuban army ranks before participating in a coup to oust the Céspedes government and install Ramón Grau as president in 1933. Just months later, however, Batista forced Grau's resignation and became Cuba's de facto ruler. After a period of exile beginning in 1944, Batista returned to Cuba and led a coup to seize power. His second term as president was marked by brutal repression, which sparked several uprisings, including one led by whom? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Alexander III of Russia (1845)Alexander III was tsar of Russia from 1881 until his death in 1894. As ruler, he sought to counteract what he considered the excessive liberalism of his father's reign and pursued a reactionary policy that promoted Russification and the persecution of religious minorities. Still, economic policy during Alexander's rule enabled rapid industrial development and allowed Russia to begin building the Trans-Siberian Railroad. To which of Alexander's relatives was his wife, Dagmar, originally engaged? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 In the sun-time, when the world is bounding forward full of life, we cannot stay to sigh and sulk ... but if the misfortune comes at 10PM, we read poetry or sit in the dark and think what a hollow world this is.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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rid out— (chiefly Midwestern United States) To clean, empty, or clear out (something or some space). Primarily heard in US. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Fairbanks Winter Carnival (2022)The Winter Carnival is a week of festivities in Fairbanks, Alaska, highlighted by sled dog races. The carnival opens with the two-day Limited North American Sled Dog Race, and concludes, on the last two days, with the Open North American Sled Dog Race. Other events include dances, a parka parade, a campstove chili contest, a native potlatch, snow- and ice-sculpting contests, snowshoe races and softball, musical and dramatic presentations, and a trade fair. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: robbribe - From Old French, it was originally a piece of bread given to beggars; the original sense of bribe is "extort, rob." More... clip joint - Based on clip, meaning "swindle, rob." More... pilfer - Originally, pilfering was a serious matter, synonymous with plundering, but it came to mean "stealing small things"; its source was Anglo-Norman pelfrer, "plunder, rob." More... plunder - Etymologically, it means "rob of household goods," from Dutch plunde/plunne, "household goods." More... | |