Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, March 5, 2019)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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steadfast
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Using Parenthetical Fragments CorrectlyBecause parenthetical elements are grammatically independent of the sentence they appear in, we must be sure that they do not include information that is necessary to complete the meaning of the overall sentence. How can we easily check this? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Space ElevatorA space elevator is a hypothetical megastructure capable of transporting material from Earth—or another celestial body—into space without the use of rockets. The concept was first conceived by Russian inventor Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895. Many of today's proposed designs incorporate tensile towers built out of advanced materials like carbon nanotubes, which are very strong and lightweight. By 1978, technology had advanced enough that working space elevators could have been constructed where? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" Speech (1946)The phrase "Iron Curtain" refers to the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the USSR after WWII to seal itself and its dependent eastern European allies off from contact with the West. Churchill's use of the phrase in a 1946 speech at a US college, though initially perceived as antagonistic, popularized the term. The Iron Curtain largely ceased to exist in 1990, when the communists of eastern Europe finally abandoned one-party rule. What are some earlier uses of the phrase? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Gerardus Mercator (1512)Mercator was a Flemish geographer, mathematician, and cartographer who perfected the first map using the Mercator projection, the translation of the spherical earth to a two-dimensional flat plane. In it, parallels and meridians are rendered as straight lines spaced to produce an accurate ratio of latitude to longitude at any point. It permits mariners to steer a course over long distances without continually adjusting compass readings. What map-related term was coined by Mercator? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit on a hot stove lid again and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.Mark Twain (1835-1910) | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Tlacaxipehualiztli (Festival of Xipe Totec) (2024)Among the Aztec Indians of Mexico, Xipe Totec was a god of war. The observance of his festival took place in March according to the Gregorian calendar. Xipe Totec was often referred to as "Our Lord the Flayed One" (or, "the Flayer"), and images of him show the god wearing a human skin. The Festival was an occasion for Aztec warriors to mimic the god. They killed their prisoners of war and removed their skins from their bodies. They would then wear these skins for the entire 20-day month and hold mock battles, after which they would discard the now-rotting skins into caves or bury them. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: rulerrector - First was a ruler or governor, now it is generally a person conducting a religious service. More... sultan - Comes from the Arabic word for "ruler," from Aramaic shultana, "power." More... Inca - A Quechua word meaning "king, lord, ruler." More... rule - One of many words from Latin regula, "straight stick, ruler." More... | |