Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, August 19, 2025)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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troglodyte
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Mitigators vs. IntensifiersMitigators are the opposite of intensifiers, which are used to increase the intensity of the words they modify. "Very" is an example of an intensifier. What are some others? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 William James Sidis: Child ProdigySidis was an American child prodigy who could read The New York Times by the time he was 18 months old. By age eight, he had taught himself eight languages and had invented one of his own. It is said that in his adult years he could speak more than 40 languages and learn a new one in a single day. In 1909, he became the youngest person ever to enroll at Harvard College and began lecturing on higher mathematics the following year. What became of Sidis after he graduated in 1914, at age 16? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Leonard Bernstein Conducts His Final Concert (1990)Less than two months before he died, Bernstein, a highly regarded American composer and conductor, conducted what would be his final concert. He had suffered from smoking-related lung problems for years, and his coughing fit partway through the Boston Symphony appearance that night nearly ended the performance. With his health declining, he officially retired in early October, and he died just five days later. What feat in 1943 made him an overnight sensation and set his career in motion? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Orville Wright (1871)Born and raised in Ohio, Orville was four years younger than his brother Wilbur. They were in the bicycle business when they began the aeronautic experiments that led to the first controlled, powered airplane flight in 1903. Wilbur died in 1912, and Orville sold his interest in their company three years later. He later served for 28 years on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, a precursor to NASA, before his death in 1948. What toy sparked Orville's interest in flying as a boy? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 From reading too much, and sleeping too little, his brain dried up on him and he lost his judgment.Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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(one's) blood is up— One is in an angry, aggressive, or violent mood; one is looking or ready for a fight. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Jeshn (2025)Jeshn is a celebration of Afghanistan's independence from British control that has been observed throughout the country but with special ceremonies in Kabul. The Treaty of Rawalpindi, signed on August 8, 1919, gave Afghanistan the right to conduct its own foreign affairs. It was the formal conclusion of the Third Anglo-Afghan War, which actually ended in May 1919, but August is a slack agricultural period and therefore a time when more people can celebrate a holiday. The holiday has been observed with parades, dancing, games, music, and speeches by government figures. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: technicalspod - A studious person who is quite socially inept or dull or a person who pursues an unfashionable, technical, or esoteric interest with obsessive dedication. More... masterpiece - Originally, it was used in a technical or academic sense to apply to a work that was presented to a medieval guild for qualification as a "master." More... technical, technic - Technical is based on technic, an adjective meaning "pertaining to art," from Greek tekhne, "art." More... technicize - To make technical. More... | |
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