Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, June 7, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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pestle
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Correlative ConjunctionsCorrelative conjunctions, or paired conjunctions, are sets of conjunctions that are always used together. Like coordinating conjunctions, they join words, phrases, or independent clauses of similar or equal importance and structure. How do they differ from coordinating conjunctions? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The MinaretMost mosques have one or more towers, called minarets, from which a muezzin calls Muslims to prayer. The earliest building to bear structures specifically built as minarets was Egypt’s Mosque of Amr. Built in 643 CE, it possessed four square towers at its corners. Not all minarets are square, however; there are also octagonal, cylindrical, and conical minarets. Styles vary regionally and by period. How many times does the muezzin issue the call to prayer each day? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 US Supreme Court Decides Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)In 1961, Estelle Griswold, executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, opened a birth control clinic for women in deliberate defiance of an 1879 law outlawing the use or distribution of contraceptives. She was arrested and fined. Her appeal made it to the US Supreme Court, which stated in a landmark 1965 decision that married couples had a right to "marital privacy," which included the right to use birth control. When was the same right extended to unwed individuals? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 George Szell (1897)Szell was a Hungarian-born conductor and pianist who immigrated to the US during WWII. Having already conducted many European orchestras, he soon became the principal conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1946, he took over the Cleveland Orchestra and, by means of his famously dictatorial approach, built it into one of the most respected ensembles in the world, famed for its precision. Nearly 20 years after Szell's death, who complained that he still got credit when the orchestra did well? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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have a part in (something)— To be involved in some capacity with establishing, maintaining, or running something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Blackbeard Pirate Festival (2020)The Blackbeard Pirate Festival takes place in Hampton, Virginia, on a two-day weekend in early June. The festival acknowledges Hampton's history as a key colonial port, the wealth of which attracted the notorious 18th-century Caribbean pirate Blackbeard. The festival features tours of replicas of three "tall ships" similar to the ones Blackbeard may have plundered; a street fair with live music, as well as refreshments and children's events; and several historical re-enactments such as an invasion of Hampton Harbor by pirates seeking revenge for Blackbeard's death. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: shorterstore - A shortened version of the obsolete astor, "stock of provisions, supplies." More... alligator - From Spanish el lagarto, "the lizard," which may have come from Latin lacerta; the alligator has a shorter, blunter snout than a crocodile. More... telescopic umbrella - An umbrella that can become shorter. More... dog watch - A two-hour watch on board a ship, it is based on dog sleep, the light or fitful sleep typical of dogs (a catnap being even shorter). More... | |