Daily Content Archive
(as of Sunday, June 14, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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accustom
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Positioning Adverbs of PlaceAdverbs of place generally appear immediately after the main verb in a sentence if it is intransitive, or else after the verb's object if it is transitive. Only two adverbs of place are very commonly used at the beginning of sentences. What are they? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Pillar-SaintsThe Pillar-Saints, or stylites, were Christian ascetics who preached while living atop pillars—sometimes for decades at a time. One of the first such stylites, if not the first, was Simeon the Elder of Syria. Expelled from a monastery for excessive austerity, he stood on a column for more than 35 years until his death in 459. He was revered throughout the Christian world and attracted a following. What did Saint Alypius do when he could no longer stand on the pillar he had occupied for 53 years? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Alcock and Brown Embark on First Nonstop Transatlantic Flight (1919)In 1918, the Daily Mail newspaper renewed its £10,000 prize for the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic. The next year, British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown claimed it after completing a treacherous 16-hour flight from Newfoundland to Ireland. Along the way, Brown had to repeatedly climb onto the wings of their biplane to remove ice, and snow filled the open cockpit. Upon reaching Ireland, they attempted to land in what they thought was a field, but it turned out to be what? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Margaret Bourke-White (1904)One of the original staff photographers at Time, Life, and Fortune magazines, Bourke-White was noted for her coverage of World War II. The first woman photographer to serve with US armed forces, she photographed the liberation of Buchenwald and was the only foreign correspondent in Moscow during the German invasion. Her pictures of the rural American South and her portraits of world leaders are also celebrated. What actress portrayed her in the movie Gandhi? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I call therefore a complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war.John Milton (1608-1674) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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great cry and little wool— A great deal of fuss, noise, fanfare, or protestation over something of little or no substance, importance, or relevance. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Rice-Planting Festival at Osaka (2025)There are many rituals associated with the growing of rice in Japanese farming communities. In many rural celebrations, young women in costume perform rituals including planting seedlings while singing rice-planting songs to the accompaniment of pipes and drums. On June 14 in Osaka, thousands congregate to observe a group of young kimono-clad women plant rice and sing in the sacred fields near the Sumiyoshi Shrine. Working rhythmically to the music, the young women appear to be participating in a dance rather than the hard work of planting. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: spikepricket - A candlestick with a spike for holding up the candle (or the spike itself). More... barb - As any type of spike or projection, it is based on Latin barba, "beard"; it is also a piece of vertically pleated linen worn over or under the chin, as by nuns. More... brad - A small or thin wire nail, it is from Old Norse broddr, "spike." More... spike - Probably borrowed from Dutch spiker, "long sharp piece." More... | |