Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, March 25, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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hieratic
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Distributive DeterminersDistributive determiners, also known as "distributive adjectives," are used to refer to individual members within a group or within a pair. The distributive determiners are "each," "every," "either," and "neither." What are they are used to modify? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 LegoLego is a line of toys featuring colorful plastic bricks, gears, and minifigures that can be assembled to create models of almost anything imaginable. The company had very humble beginnings in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a poor carpenter from Denmark, but today manufactures about 20 billion bricks a year. A substantial fan culture has developed that has used the toys to build such things as a harpsichord, a pendulum clock, and an electronic lab kit. What does "Lego" mean? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Sergei Krikalev, the "Last Soviet Citizen," Returns to Earth (1992)In May 1991, the Soviet Union launched the Soyuz TM-12 mission to the Mir space station. Within months, all but one of the mission's crew members had returned to Earth. Krikalev, a Soviet flight engineer, stayed behind to help staff Mir and conduct experiments. That December, the USSR dissolved. When the cosmonaut finally returned to Earth the following spring, it was as a citizen of Russia. Krikalev has spent more time in space than any other human—how many days in total? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Saint Catherine of Siena (1347)Born in Siena, Italy, as Caterina Benincasa, Catherine claimed to have mystic visions beginning in early childhood. In 1370, in response to a vision, she began sending letters to prominent figures. She later traveled to Avignon and influenced Pope Gregory XI to end the "Babylonian captivity" of the papacy and return to Rome. Although she never learned to write, she dictated hundreds of letters and some notable mystic works. Catherine is believed to have suffered from what condition? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.Jane Austen (1775-1817) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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letters after (one's) name— A series of abbreviations indicating the various levels of higher education or military honors one has received, thereby denoting a presumed level of intelligence, wisdom, or respectability. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 San Marino Anniversary of the Arengo (2021)The Republic of San Marino, a landlocked nation surrounded by Italy, is the smallest republic in the world. The Arengo was its first form of government, under which all of the patriarchs assembled to decide on important matters. March 25 is a national holiday commemorating the Arengo of 1906, which marked the birth of a Parliament elected directly by the people. The military corps appear in full uniform in front of Palazzo Begni; a laurel wreath is placed on the monument to the Fallen, and the ceremony continues with a mass in the Basilica to thank the founder saint, Marinus. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: opportunityEl Dorado - A place offering fabulous wealth or opportunity (after the legendary place in South America, "the gilded one"). More... ease - First meant "opportunity, ability," or "means to do something." More... hint - First meant "an occasion or opportunity." More... occasion - Once had the specific sense of "an opportunity for finding fault or giving offense." More... | |