Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, November 27, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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piddling
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Direct SpeechDirect speech refers to the direct quotation of something that someone else said. It is sometimes known as "quoted speech." Because the quotation happened in the past, we put the reporting verb into what tense? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 BookbindingThe craft of bookbinding began simply, with the use of boards to protect parchment manuscripts. By the 2nd century, sheets of parchment were being folded and sewn together. During the Middle Ages, the practice of making fine bindings for these sewn volumes rose to great heights; books were rare and precious articles, and many were treated with exquisite gilded and jeweled bindings. What is the uncommon practice of binding books in human skin, a technique dating back to the 17th century, called? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Alger Hiss Is Released from Prison (1954)Though Hiss maintained his innocence until his death in 1996, the controversy surrounding his case persists today. Once a US government official, Hiss was accused before the House Un-American Activities Committee of spying for Russia. Though he could not be tried for espionage under the statute of limitations, he was convicted of perjury and served 44 months in prison. Many believed he had been wrongly convicted. However, Soviet files released in 1996 seem to implicate him. Who was his accuser? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Anders Celsius (1701)Celsius was a Swedish astronomer who published observations of the aurora borealis and supervised the building of an observatory at Uppsala, Sweden, where he pioneered the measurement of the brightness of stars. Today, however, he is better known for an invention that has been adopted by almost the entire world—the centigrade, or Celsius, thermometer. Originally, his temperature scale had 0 as its boiling point and 100 as its freezing point. Who reversed the numbers after Celsius died? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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thanks for nothing!— An expression of annoyance, exasperation, or disappointment when someone does something unhelpful or disagreeable. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Lopburi Monkey Banquet (2025)Yongyuth Kijwattananuson first offered this banquet to the long-tailed macaque monkeys who live in the city of Lop Buri, Thailand, in 1988, to thank them for making his hotel so attractive to visitors. It has since become an institution, especially for the hundreds of monkeys who normally spend their time begging and stealing food from townspeople and tourists. Dozens of chefs prepare numerous dishes featuring fruit and vegetables on tables covered with red tablecloths. The monkeys eventually approach the tables to feast on the offerings, playing and throwing food in the process. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: squeezeanguish, anxious, anxiety - Anguish, anxious, and anxiety come from Latin angere, "to choke, squeeze, strangle." More... kvetch - To complain chronically or habitually, from Yiddish kvetshn, "pinch, squeeze; complain." More... squash - As a verb, it is an alteration of quash, and means, generally, to "crush, squeeze, or suppress." More... tapioca - Comes from Tupi-Guarani tipi, "residue," and ok/og, "squeeze out." More... | |