Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, September 10, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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saturnine
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Comparative Adverbs vs. Comparative AdjectivesComparative adverbs, like comparative adjectives, are used to describe differences and similarities between two things. While comparative adjectives describe similarities and differences between two nouns, what do comparative adverbs make comparisons between? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Founder EffectThe founder effect is a form of genetic drift that occurs when a small group in a population splinters off and forms a new one. These founders can strongly affect the new colony's genetic makeup far into the future, since their small gene pool may be unrepresentative of that of the population at large. Down the line, this can result in an increase in recessive traits, even maladaptive ones, like certain genetic diseases. What are some communities that have been impacted by the founder effect? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Empress Elizabeth of Austria Is Assassinated (1898)Renowned for her beauty, Elizabeth of Bavaria married her cousin, Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, but disliked the rigid etiquette of the Viennese court. She therefore spent much of her life wandering abroad. In 1898, an Italian anarchist stabbed the 60-year-old empress in the chest with a sharpened file while she was travelling in Geneva, killing her. Her domestic life is said to been an unhappy one, marred by family tragedies like the death of her only son in what sensational incident? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Hilda Doolittle, AKA H.D. (1886)Born in Pennsylvania, Doolittle traveled to Europe in 1911 and stayed there the rest of her life. In England, under the influence of Ezra Pound, she became associated with the imagists and developed into one of the most original poets of the group. She combined classical themes with modernist techniques to create clear, impersonal, sensuous verse. Doolittle, who became an icon of the gay-rights and feminist movements after her death, was once involved in a love triangle with what other writers? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 I have been, as the phrase is, liberally educated, and am fit for nothing.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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scream (one's) head off— To scream or yell very loudly and lengthily. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Gibraltar National Day (2025)On September 10, 1967, the people of Gibraltar participated in a national referendum and rejected the option to pass under Spanish Control. Since 1967, Gibraltarians have commemorated the referendum date. In recent years, events leading up to the momentous day have included dance performances, military band concerts, and a governor's parade. On National Day, people typically dress in the national colors of red and white. A popular tradition is the ceremonial release of 30,000 red and white balloons, each representing an individual living on the rock. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: tribelow man - On an actual totem pole, it is really the most important man in the tribe. More... tribe - From Latin tribus, it may refer to the three divisions of early Romans, the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans. More... tribunal - Originally referred to a seat or raised platform for judges, from Latin tribunus, "head of a tribe." More... cannibal - When Columbus was trying to find the Spice Islands, he was told of a tribe of man-eating natives in Cuba and Haiti called Caribs (from which we get Caribbean) or Caniba (Columbus' rendition of the name); the word canib, meaning "brave and fierce," became cannibal, meaning "anthropophagite," a person who eats human flesh. More... | |