Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 26, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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countermand
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Statements of UncertaintyWe often use declarative sentences as an indirect way of asking a question about something that we're not certain about, expressing what we wish to know as a declarative, factual statement. How should such sentences be punctuated? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 DaedalusIn Greek mythology, Daedalus was a brilliant craftsman whose inventions often went awry. On Crete, he inadvertently helped create the fearsome Minotaur. At the order of King Minos, he built a labyrinth to contain the monster, but Theseus successfully navigated it to kill the beast. While imprisoned by Minos, Daedalus crafted wings of wax and feathers so he and his son Icarus could escape. Sadly, Icarus fell to his death when the sun melted his wings. Why had Daedalus originally fled to Crete? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 USA PATRIOT Act Signed into Law (2001)Enacted quickly and with little opposition in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the sweeping USA PATRIOT Act dramatically enhanced the powers of law enforcement and intelligence-gathering agencies within the US. The bill has since come under increasing scrutiny and criticism, and aspects of it have faced legal challenges in the courts. After it was renewed in 2006, most of its sections became permanent. What section of the act has riled librarians in particular? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Mahalia Jackson (1911)As a child, Jackson sang at the New Orleans church where her father preached. After moving to Chicago, she sang with a touring gospel quintet. Her warm, powerful voice first came to wider public attention in the 1930s. Called "The Queen of Gospel," she sang at an inaugural party for US President John F. Kennedy, at the 1963 March on Washington, and at the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr. Despite many offers, she refused to sing secular songs. Jackson was born with what physical deformity? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 All nature wears one universal grin.Henry Fielding (1707-1754) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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storming mad— Exceptionally or uncontrollably angry. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Angam Day (2025)Nauru is an island in the Pacific, about 2,200 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia, and 2,400 miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. Over the past 100 years, the existence of Nauruans has been threatened a number of times—by tribal disputes in the 1870s and by an influenza epidemic in 1919. During World War II, two-thirds of the population were deported by the Japanese to the Caroline Islands to build airstrips. Angam ("hope") Day on October 26 commemorates the various occasions when the Nauruan population has reached 1,500, considered the minimum number necessary for survival. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: puzzlerebus - A puzzle in which one must decode a message consisting of pictures representing syllables and words. More... puzzle - Comes from Old French opposaile, "thing set before one," "bewildering thing"; as a verb, it first meant "be beset by difficulties." More... cabobble - To mystify, puzzle, or confuse. More... word search - A puzzle consisting of letters arranged in a grid which contains a number of hidden words written in various directions. More... | |