Daily Content Archive
(as of Saturday, November 9, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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honorable
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Defining InterjectionsAn interjection is a word, phrase, or sound used to convey an emotion such as surprise, excitement, happiness, or anger. Capable of standing alone, interjections are grammatically unrelated to any other part of a sentence. What are interjections also known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Brain in a VatFor millennia, philosophers have grappled with various versions of the "brain-in-a-vat" scenario. A thought experiment, it raises questions about the individual’s ability to know anything, since a brain suspended in a vat of life-sustaining liquid and connected to a computer that provides it with electrical impulses identical to those the brain normally receives would never be able to determine whether it is in a skull or a vat. What popular film trilogy is loosely based on this concept? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Bosnian War: 427-Year-Old Stari Most Destroyed (1993)Arching high above the Neretva River, the Stari Most—or "Old Bridge"—was a 16th-century bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the greatest architectural works of its time. Despite being of little strategic value, it was shelled during wartime by Croat forces. After the war, it was carefully rebuilt as close to its original dimensions as possible. Divers were even brought in to recover materials that had fallen into the river. What dangerous competition is held on the bridge each summer? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818)Considered one of the foremost Russian novelists and dramatists, Turgenev became known for his realistic, affectionate portrayals of Russian peasantry as well as for his penetrating studies of the intelligentsia. His works, which include the controversial masterpiece Fathers and Sons, are thought to have influenced the end of serfdom in Russia. His rocky friendship with Leo Tolstoy included a 17-year period during which the men did not speak to each other after Tolstoy did what? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 To seek to extinguish anger utterly is but a bravery of the Stoics.Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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get taken to task (by someone)— To be scolded, rebuked, reprimanded, or criticized (by someone). More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Oglebay Winter Festival of Lights (2025)A premier light show in Wheeling, West Virginia, the Winter Festival of Lights started in 1985 and is now considered a rival of the light show at Niagara Falls. More than a million people visit each year to see two million lights on the downtown Victorian buildings, with architectural and landscape lighting designed by world-famous lighting designers. Some 300 acres of the city's Oglebay Park are covered with animated light displays that depict symbols of Hanukkah and Christmas and general winter scenes. There are also nighttime parades and storefront animations. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: weighdispense - Ultimately from Latin dispendere, "weigh out." More... expend - Comes from ex-, "out," and pendere, "weigh; pay"; originally, it referred to spending money, with the root sense being "to weigh out money." More... preponderate - Once meant "weigh more" and "have greater intellectual weight." More... spend - A blend of Latin pendere, "pay, weigh," and expendere, "pay out." More... | |