Daily Content Archive
(as of Monday, October 16, 2023)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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wharfage
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Pronouns as the SubjectPronouns stand in for a person or thing we are speaking about or referring to; they are used to avoid repetition in speech or writing. When the personal pronouns in the subjective case act as substitutes for the subject of the clause or sentence, what are they known as? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Incandescent Light BulbNow the iconic symbol for an idea, the electric incandescent light bulb was independently produced in the late 1870s by Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison—and perhaps earlier by others. However, Edison has received the major credit for this invention because he also developed the power lines and other equipment needed for a lighting system. Financed by the likes of J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilts, Edison achieved success using a carbon filament in his design. How do incandescent light bulbs work? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Olympic Medalists Create Furor with Black Power Salute (1968)The silent protest of two black American athletes at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City was an iconic and controversial statement. Sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos received their medals shoeless to draw attention to black poverty in America, and they performed the Black Power salute as their national anthem played. They were booed by the crowd and were later expelled from the staunchly apolitical games. Smith saluted with his right hand. Why was Carlos forced to salute with his left? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (1888)One of America's greatest playwrights, O'Neill spent his youth as a heavy-drinking, itinerant seaman, then began writing plays while recovering from tuberculosis in 1912. Within a decade, he had won his first of four Pulitzer Prizes. Extremely prolific, he wrote passionate works about tortured family relationships and spiritual conflict, including Long Day's Journey into Night and The Iceman Cometh. Both of his sons committed suicide, and he disowned his daughter for marrying whom? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Ill-luck, you know, seldom comes alone.Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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shank's nag— One's legs and feet, used for walking; travel by foot. Also "shanks' nag." A reference to the shank— the lower leg between the knee and the ankle—and the use of ponies or horses for travel. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 World Food Day (2025)Proclaimed in 1979 by the conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, World Food Day is designed to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and to promote cooperation in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. October 16 is the anniversary of the founding of the FAO in Rome, Italy, in 1945. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: markingpastry wheel, pastry jagger - A pastry wheel or pastry jagger is a handled tool with a thin sharp wheel, used for marking and cutting rolled-out dough. More... stocking - A white marking on the lower part of a horse's leg. More... on the dot - Probably a reference to the minute hand of the clock being exactly over the dot marking the given minute on the dial. More... hilum - The scar on a seed marking the point where it was attached to its seed vessel. More... | |