Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, July 29, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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heavyset
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Prepositions in IdiomsMany prepositions can be used with certain words or phrases to form idioms. These prepositional idioms typically begin or end with a preposition. How can prepositional idioms function in a sentence? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Dictionary AttacksIn cryptanalysis and computer security, a dictionary attack is a method of breaking a cipher or authentication mechanism by trying common words, like names of people, sports teams, pets, and cars, as possible passwords or decryption keys. Sophisticated dictionary attacks rank words by those most likely to be used. For that reason, computer users are advised to avoid passwords that can be found in an ordinary dictionary. How else can dictionary attacks be thwarted? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The International Atomic Energy Agency Is Established (1957)In 1953, during the Cold War, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed the creation of an international body to regulate the use of nuclear power in his "Atoms for Peace" address to the United Nations General Assembly. Four years later, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The IAEA may purchase and sell fissionable materials, and it inspects for compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Is the IAEA part of the UN? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Dag Hammarskjöld (1905)The only person to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize posthumously, Hammarskjöld was the second Secretary General of the United Nations. In this role, he greatly extended the influence of the United Nations and personally led peace missions, though he clashed with the Soviet Union for his vigorous attempts to diffuse civil strife in the newly independent Congo. He served as Secretary General until his death in a mysterious plane crash in 1961. What conspiracy theories surround his death? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 You and I, dear reader, are each the center of the universe in our respective opinions. You, as I understand it, were brought into being by a considerate Providence in order that you might read and pay me for what I write; while I, in your opinion, am an article sent into the world to write something for you to read.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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wide berth— A good distance (between things, people, etc.). Originally referred to ships. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Olav's Day (2022)St. Olav is the patron saint of Norway, and the anniversary of his death is still marked by religious services, fireworks, and public merry-making. Every year the battle in which he died is reenacted during the St. Olav Festival in Trondheim. In the Faroe Islands, this is known as Olavsoka, or "St. Olav's Wake," a national holiday. Parliament opens on the 29th, but the festivities—which include dancing, sports events, speeches, drinking, and a parade of members of Logting (parliament)—begin the night before and continue into the early hours of the 30th. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: inhabitantinfernal - An inhabitant of the underworld can be called an infernal. More... sherpa - Literally means "inhabitant of an eastern country." More... aborigine - From Classical Latin meaning "ancestors," it was spelled with a capital A as the name of the primeval Romans; the first people called aborigines were the original inhabitants of Italy and Greece and aborigine was specifically applied to the inhabitants of a country ab origine, "from the beginning." More... sylvans - Natives or inhabitants of forests or woods. More... | |