Daily Content Archive
(as of Thursday, December 6, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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wirework
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Modal Auxiliary VerbsA modal auxiliary verb is used to change the meaning of other verbs by expressing possibility, likelihood, ability, permission, obligation, or future intention. How many "true" modal auxiliary verbs are there? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 A Fish Out of WaterFound in coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, mudskippers are fish adapted for remaining on dry land when the tide goes out on the mud flats and brackish mangrove swamps where they live. While mudskippers have no special air-breathing organs, they are able to absorb oxygen through the skin and gill chambers as long as these remain moist. When out of water, they use the fleshy bases of their pectoral fins for propulsion on the ground. What other adaptations do mudskippers have? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 The Halifax Explosion (1917)In 1917, a French munitions vessel carrying thousands of pounds of explosives collided with a Norwegian relief vessel in the port city of Halifax—capital of Nova Scotia, Canada, and a major wartime shipping point. The munitions ship caught fire and exploded a short time later with greater force than any man-made explosion before it, destroying the northern part of the city, killing some 1,800 people, and injuring about 9,000 more. What happened the next day that compounded the loss of life? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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.jpg) Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778)Gay-Lussac was a French chemist and physicist who showed that all gases expand by the same fraction of their volume for a given temperature increase—which led to the devising of a new temperature scale whose thermodynamic significance was later established by Lord Kelvin. By taking measurements from a balloon above 20,000 feet (6,000 m), he concluded that Earth's magnetic intensity and atmospheric composition were constant to that altitude. Gay-Lussac also helped to discover what element? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 St. Nicholas's Day (Greece) (2023)As the patron saint of ships and seamen, St. Nicholas is very important to the Greeks, so many of whom have traditionally made their living at sea. Many Greek ships, from the smallest fishing boat to the largest commercial vessel, carry an icon of the saint on board. Seamen honor St. Nicholas on his feast day, which falls at a time of year when storms grow more frequent, by burning a light before his icon and saying prayers for the safety of their boat or ship. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: hellbarathrum - A bottomless pit or hell. More... fire and brimstone - Eternal punishment in hell (from Genesis 19:24 and Revelation 19:20). More... pandemonium - Literally means abode of all demons (or hell), from Greek pan-, "all," and daimon, "demon(s)." More... hell - The Indo-European root meant "covered or concealed," as hell is supposedly hidden in the dark regions near the Earth's center. More... | |