Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, January 31, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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soi-disant
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Other Categories of SpeechSpeech is usually divided between two types: direct speech and reported speech. There are also two other sub-categories of speech that we use. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The MistelToward the end of World War II, the German Luftwaffe introduced a new weaponry scheme that consisted of two airplanes attached to each other. Called the Mistel, it featured a crewless bomber packed full of explosives and mounted below a manned fighter plane. The fighter would drop or steer the entire bomber onto a target, then return alone. It was largely ineffective. In one instance, Mistel pilots who claimed to have made a successful hit may have actually done what instead? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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_in_dynamics_test_chamber.jpg) United States Launches Explorer I (1958)Explorer I was the first American satellite. It was launched four months after the first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, was put into orbit by the Soviet Union, beginning the so-called space race. Although it carried a number of instruments, Explorer I was relatively small, weighing just 30 lbs (13 kg). It stopped transmission of data later in 1958, when its batteries died, but remained in orbit for more than 12 years. Where did it make its fiery reentry? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 William Charles Lunalilo (1835)The shortest-reigning monarch in Hawaiian history, Lunalilo was unanimously elected by the legislature after the death of Kamehameha V, who had declined to name an heir. Just 13 months later, the similarly heirless Lunalilo died of alcoholism and tuberculosis. His goal of a more democratic Hawaii had earned him the nickname "the People's King," and he was buried in a common cemetery rather than in the royal mausoleum. What was his reward for having composed Hawaii's first national anthem? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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lucky devil— Someone who has just experienced particularly good fortune, generally of whom the speaker is envious to some degree. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Nauru Independence Day (2022)This island in the Pacific Ocean gained independence from Great Britain on January 31, 1968. It had been governed by Australia. Independence Day is a national holiday in Nauru. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: socketball, socket - On a clothing snap, there is a ball and a socket. More... socket - From Middle English, first as "head of a spear, resembling a plowshare," from an Anglo-Norman French diminutive of French soc, "plowshare." More... acetabulum - The socket of the hip bone, into which the head of the femur fits. More... birn - The socket in a clarinet or other woodwind into which the mouthpiece fits. More... | |