February 22, 2017
Word of the Day
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Definition:
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(adjective) Of, given to, characterized by, or having the nature of digression. |
Synonyms: |
rambling, digressive, discursive
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Usage: |
What started as a few excursive remarks soon turned into a long, rambling speech about this and that. |
Idiom of the Day
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To curse or bitterly regret a point in time (in which something happened or one did something).
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Article of the Day
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Meerkats are members of the mongoose family that inhabit the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and South Africa. They are highly social creatures and live in groups called "mobs," "gangs," or "clans," which have a dominant breeding pair and up to 23 helpers to assist with rearing the young. Mob members regularly groom each other, and some even babysit or stand guard while others forage for food. They have also been known to engage in what playful social activities?
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Daily Grammar Lesson
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Adjectives are used almost exclusively to modify nouns, as well as any phrase or part of speech functioning as a noun. Some adjectives appear directly before (or sometimes directly after) the noun or pronoun they modify. What are these called?
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This Day in History
Adams-Onís Treaty: Spain Sells Florida to the US (1819)
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Discuss
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In the early 1800s, tensions between the US and Spain were increasing over border disputes in North America. With Spanish power in the New World declining, it was widely believed that Spain would lose land to the US. The Adams-Onís Treaty settled the dispute by attempting to draw clearer borders, roughly granting Florida and Louisiana to the US while giving everything west of Louisiana to Spain. The US did not pay Spain directly for the new land. Instead, it compensated Spain in what way?
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Today's Birthday
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (1857)
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Discuss
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Powell was a British army officer and founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, later the Girl Scouts. He was a hero of the South African War and author of Aids to Scouting, a military textbook. Upon learning that his book was being used to train boys in woodcraft, he wrote Scouting for Boys and established the Boy Scout movement in 1908. In 1910, with his sister and wife, he founded the Girl Guides. What disguise did Powell use while gathering information in war?
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Today's Holiday
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The West Indies island of St. Lucia celebrates its national independence holiday on February 22. On that day in 1979 the country gained full independence from Britain. St. Lucia had been a British Colony since 1814.
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Quote of the Day
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Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
George Eliot (1819-1880)
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In the News
India's Only Volcano on Barren Island Active Again
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Discuss
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India's National Institute of Oceanography said the volcano on the uninhabited Barren Island is once again active after scientists witnessed lava and rising smoke. The scientists, led by Dr. Abhay V. Mudholkar from the Council of Scientific and Industrial ...
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