Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, August 3, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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unfeigned
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Irregular Superlative AdverbsJust as there are irregular adverbs, there are irregular superlative adverbs. "Least" is an example of an irregular superlative adverb. What are some others? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Opium DensOpium dens, establishments where opium is sold and smoked, were especially popular in the 19th century, particularly in China, Southeast Asia, France, and North America. Chinese immigrants hired to build the transcontinental railroad during the California gold rush brought the practice of smoking opium to the US. There, opium dens operated unhindered until an epidemic of opiate addiction in the late 1800s forced them underground. When was New York City's last opium den reportedly shut down? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The National Basketball Association Is Founded (1949)Prior to 1949, there were two main rival basketball organizations in the US—the National Basketball League, which had been founded in 1937, and the Basketball Association of America, which had been founded nearly a decade later. They merged to form the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1949 and racially integrated the following year. In 1995, the NBA expanded to include two Canadian teams, and in 1996, a women's league was founded. What rule, instituted in 1954, encouraged more shooting? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Elisha Graves Otis (1811)By 1852, Otis had already devised several inventions, including a safety brake for trains. While setting up a factory that year, he developed an automatic safety device to prevent heavy machinery from falling if a rope broke while the machinery was being hoisted. The first fail-safe, fall-safe passenger elevator quickly followed. It made possible the construction of skyscrapers, greatly altering the landscape of modern cities. What daring publicity stunt helped launch sales of Otis's elevators? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad.Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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circle the drain— To be in a state of severe deterioration such that one is approaching inevitable ruin, failure, or death. Usually used in the continuous form. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Devi Dhura Mela (2020)Held at the same time as Raksha Bhandan, this two-day festival is observed in the small town of Devi Dhura in Uttar Pradesh, India, at the shrine of Varahi Devi or Bhagwati, an incarnation of Durga. Processions from the other villages stream in to Devi Dhura, led by dancers. On the second day, the bagwals assemble at Kholi Khan, a flat yard next to the shrine. These are groups of men who have been selected to participate in an unusual stone-throwing ritual. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: vaporatmosphere - Derives from Greek atmos, "vapor," and sphaira, "globe," and is literally "ball of vapor." More... brume, brumous - Brume is a poetic term meaning "mist, fog, or vapor"; brumous means "foggy." More... damp - The noun first meant "vapor, steam," or "smoke"—especially that which was harmful or noxious. More... transpire - Had an early sense of "emit as vapor through the surface"—from trans-, "through," and spirare, "breathe." More... | |