Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, February 24, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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excrescence
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Identifying Adverbial ComplementsThe best way to identify whether an adverbial element is a complement or not is to remove it from the sentence. If the sentence no longer makes sense or has a very different meaning, then what is the adverbial element is what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Four Horsemen of the ApocalypseOne of the most important silent films of all time, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse established actor Rudolph Valentino as a superstar, inspired a tango craze, and beat out Charlie Chaplin's The Kid to become the highest-grossing film of 1921. It is considered to be among the first anti-war films ever made, and its success made producer June Mathis a powerful woman in Hollywood. Why does Valentino scornfully cast aside his partner at the end of the film's famous tango scene? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Nine Passengers Sucked Out of Plane When It Rips Open Mid-Flight (1989)Sixteen minutes after taking off for New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii, United Airlines flight 811 experienced a cargo door failure and explosive decompression that resulted in the ejection of a number of seats, nine of them occupied, from the aircraft. The pilots initially thought a bomb had been detonated on board and would later learn that design flaws and faulty wiring were to blame for the catastrophe that took place on their flight. How might United have averted this disaster? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jacques de Vaucanson (1709)The mechanically gifted 10th child of a French glove-maker, Vaucanson created some of the world's first robots. His famous gold-plated "Digesting Duck" had hundreds of moving parts and could eat, drink, and defecate. In 1745, weavers pelted Vaucanson with stones when he created the first fully-automated loom, which utilized punch-card technology. Decades later, his ideas would prove pivotal to the Industrial Revolution. How many songs could his mechanical flutist perform? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 To swallow and follow, whether old doctrine or new propaganda, is a weakness still dominating the human mind.Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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make (one's) own way— To advance or progress, especially through life, according to one's own efforts, inclinations, or designs. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Matthias's Day (2025)The story of how St. Matthias was elected to replace Judas Iscariot as one of the 12 apostles after Judas committed suicide can be found in the Bible's Book of Acts. There is no historical record of Matthias's deeds or death. His fame rests almost entirely upon the fact that he took the betrayer Judas' place, although legend claims that he was stoned and beheaded in Ethiopia in 64 CE. Episcopalians celebrate his feast day on February 24. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: keyboardfallboard - The hinged protective covering that protects the keyboard of a piano when it is not being played. More... finger board - The part of a stringed instrument against which the fingers press the strings to vary the tone—as well as the keyboard of a piano, organ, etc. More... home key - The home key is either of two keys on a keyboard acting as the base position for one's fingers in touch-typing (left F, right J). More... octothorpe - The pound key on a keyboard or keypad is technically an octothorpe. More... | |