Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, January 15, 2025)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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inanimate
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Compound-Complex SentencesCompound-complex sentences are made up of two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. In a compound-complex sentence, how is the complex independent clause joined to the other independent clause? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Japanese SakeSake is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice. Although there are multiple theories about how it was developed, the first sakes were likely made from rice, millet, chestnuts, and acorns that people chewed and spit into a tub. The enzymes from the saliva converted the starches to sugars, resulting in a sweet mixture that was combined with freshly cooked grain and allowed to ferment. What does drinking sake from another's cup signify in Japanese culture? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Otho Begins His 3-Month Reign as Roman Emperor (69 CE)Otho and Roman Emperor Nero were once friends. Then, Otho's wife became Nero's mistress, and Nero dispatched Otho to the remote province of Lusitania. After patiently governing the province for a decade, Otho joined a revolt against the emperor in 68 CE. Nero committed suicide, and Otho took over. However, a rival soon challenged him for the throne. Just three months into his reign, Otho killed himself, presumably to avoid a civil war in his empire. How did he bid farewell to his friends? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809)Believed to have been the first person to call himself an anarchist, Proudhon was a French journalist and social theorist best known for his radical assertion that "property is theft." Originally a printer, he joined the socialist movement after moving to Paris in 1838. There, he published radical newspapers and was imprisoned. His writings were deeply influential within the anarchist movement. In his famous essay "What is Government?" how does Proudhon define what it means to be governed? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Danger lies in the writer becoming the victim of his own exaggeration ... and in the end coming to despise truth itself as something too cold, too blunt for his purpose—as, in fact, not good enough for his insistent emotion. From laughter and tears the descent is easy to sniveling and giggles.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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whomp up— To make quickly. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Suminuri Matsuri (2025)Suminuri Matsuri is a New Year tradition observed for more than half a millennium in a district of Matsunoyama, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. People adorn their homes and streets for Oshogatsu (New Year's Day) with decorations made of paper, tree branches and bamboo. After the holiday, they take down the decorations and burn them, keeping the ashes for the Suminuri Festival. People take the ashes outside and mix them with snow, then rub the concoction on each other's faces for luck in the new year. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: railwayMain Line - The principal line of a railway (1841), it also has the meaning "affluent area of residence" (1930s), originally that of Philadelphia, from the "main line" of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which added local stops to a string of backwater towns west of the city in late 19th century that helped turn them into fashionable suburbs. More... one-track mind - Is a reference to the railway. More... railway - The word was first recorded in 1776, but the first actual railway opened nearly 50 years later, in 1825. More... sidetrack - First used for a railway siding or a minor track or path. More... | |