Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, July 21, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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traipse
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Intensive PronounsIntensive pronouns add emphasis to the sentence by reiterating the subject (known as the pronoun’s antecedent). When an intensive pronoun is used to add emphasis, where is it generally placed in the sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Endogenous RetrovirusRetroviruses carry their genetic blueprint in the form of RNA, which they use to synthesize DNA—the reverse of the usual process. This makes it possible for their genetic material to become a permanent part of the genes of an infected cell. An endogenous retrovirus is a retrovirus-like sequence found in an organism's genome that is thought to constitute the remains of a true retrovirus absorbed through evolution. In humans, endogenous retroviruses are suspected of involvement in what diseases? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Tennessee Biology Teacher Found Guilty of Teaching Evolution (1925)In 1925, Tennessee biology teacher John Scopes was tried for violating the Butler Act, a law enacted earlier that year banning the teaching of evolution. He was found guilty and fined $100, but the verdict was later reversed. The "Monkey Trial," as it came to be known, served as a flashpoint for debate among religious scholars, scientists, and the public, but despite the outcry stemming from the case, the Butler Act was not repealed until 1967. What surprising witness did the defense question? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ernest Hemingway (1899)Hemingway worked as a journalist before becoming one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. His fiction usually focuses on people living essential, dangerous lives—soldiers, fishermen, athletes, bullfighters—who meet the pain and difficulty of their existence with stoic courage. His celebrated literary style, influenced by Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein, is direct and terse, yet particularly suited to his elemental subject matter. Which of his works earned him the Pulitzer Prize? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist. They have never felt the iron of it in their flesh. They do not know how mean it makes you. It exposes you to endless humiliation, it cuts your wings, it eats into your soul like a cancer.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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weak in the knees— Unsteady or flustered due to a strong emotional reaction to someone or something. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Hemingway Days Festival (2022)This week-long celebration of Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), the American novelist and short-story writer, is held in Key West, Florida. The festival has been held since 1980 during the week of Hemingway's birthday, July 21. Hemingway made his home in Key West at one time, and his novel, To Have and Have Not (1937), is set there. Events include a street fair, a Hemingway look-alike contest, a fishing tournament, an arm-wrestling competition, and a party and concert at the Hemingway Home and Museum. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: science fictiondroid - A robot in science fiction, it is a shortening of android. More... death ray - Was a staple of (pulp) science fiction in the mid-20th century. More... time warp - A concept that arose in the 1950s and originally applied to science fiction. More... warp speed - Alludes to the use in science fiction, especially the speed used for interstellar travel in the science fiction television series Star Trek. More... | |