Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, September 7, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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cloistered
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Comparative AdjectivesWhen using comparative adjectives, the two nouns that are being compared can both appear in the sentence. This is the case if there is any chance of the listener or reader being confused by what you're talking about. When we need to mention both nouns, what structure do we follow? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Milk SicknessMilk sickness afflicts individuals who ingest dairy products or meat from a cow that has fed on white snakeroot, a plant with a poisonous cluster of small white flowers. It is characterized by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain. Although rare today, such poisoning killed thousands in the early 19th century, including Abraham Lincoln's mother. A doctor first described it in 1809, but its exact cause remained elusive. According to legend, how was its cause discovered? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Tupac Shakur Is Shot (1996)In 1996, Shakur, an American rap star and actor, was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting while stopped at a red light on the Las Vegas strip. He died six days later. The 25-year-old Shakur had been involved in a violent rivalry between the East and West Coast rap scenes and had survived another shooting less than two years earlier. His killer has never been identified. However, some suspect that it was a man who had been in a public altercation with Shakur hours before the shooting—who? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Jacob Lawrence (1917)Lawrence was a leading black artist who portrayed African-American life, experience, and history with vivid, stylized realism. He was only in his twenties when his series depicting the migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North thrust him into the national spotlight. His use of somber browns and black for shadows and outlines in an otherwise vibrant palette lends his work a distinctive overtone, as does his flat painting style. Where can one view his last public work? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts—just mere thoughts—are as powerful as electric batteries—as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison.Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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run wild— To behave or run around in a wild, unruly, out-of-control manner; to be or become crazy or chaotic. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Festival of Piedigrotta (2025)Held in Naples, Italy, in September, the Festival of Piedigrotta is known primarily for its noise and gaiety. According to one legend, it commemorates the destruction in 44 CE of a site that had formerly been the scene of pagan orgies, and the building of a chapel in its place. A second explanation is that the chapel was built in 1356 after the Blessed Virgin Mary had appeared to a priest, a nun, and a man named Peter and ordered its construction. In any case, the festival is a particularly joyful one, with processions, fireworks, and some very unusual puppet shows. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: inquiryquery, inquiry, enquiry - A query is a single question; an inquiry (or enquiry) may be a single question or extensive investigation (i.e. a series of questions). More... inquirendo, percontation - An inquirendo or percontation is an investigation or inquiry. More... prosecute - First meant "to follow up or pursue an inquiry or studies" or "to pursue to the end." More... zetetic - As an adjective, it means "inquiring, investigating" and "proceeding by inquiry or investigation," or, as a noun, "inquirer." More... | |