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From today's featured article
Hurricane Willa was a powerful tropical cyclone that brought torrential rains and destructive winds to the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Nayarit in October 2018. It was the twenty-second named storm, thirteenth hurricane, and tenth major hurricane of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season, and tied a record as that season's third Category 5 hurricane. Willa originated from a tropical wave in the southwestern Caribbean Sea that crossed over Central America into the East Pacific without significant organization. On October 20 the system developed into a tropical depression, and strengthened later in the day into Tropical Storm Willa. It peaked as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) two days later. On October 24, Willa made landfall in Sinaloa as a marginal Category 3 hurricane. It killed nine people, and caused more than Mex$16 billion (US$820 million) in damage. (This article is part of a featured topic: Category 5 Pacific hurricanes.)
Did you know ...
- ... that the market hall of Niort (pictured) opened in 1871 and has been listed as a historic monument since 1987?
- ... that Kimball County, Nebraska, was named after railroad executive Thomas Lord Kimball?
- ... that the Amazonas de Yaxunah, a Mayan softball team from Yucatán, play barefoot while wearing the huipil, a traditional indigenous dress?
- ... that in 2023, a sculpture garden in Praunheim displayed abstract works by Hans Steinbrenner from different periods of his life, and corresponding works by his friends and students?
- ... that people in the Victorian era commonly placed black borders on letters and envelopes to signify that they were in mourning?
- ... that in aquariums, the humpbacked limia is known to cannibalise the young?
- ... that John Buck Wilkin was inspired to write "GTO" during a physics class?
- ... that Hypericum perforatum was a common component of classical cure-all concoctions called theriacs?
In the news
- Daniel Noboa (pictured) is elected President of Ecuador.
- The National Party, led by Christopher Luxon, wins the most seats in the New Zealand general election.
- Australian voters reject altering the Constitution to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
- NASA's Psyche mission is launched to explore the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche.
On this day
- 1939 – Pope Pius XII (pictured) published his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, which critiqued ideologies such as racism, cultural superiority and totalitarianism.
- 1951 – African-American college football player Johnny Bright was the victim of an on-field assault, eventually leading to changes in NCAA football rules that mandated the use of more protective helmets with face guards.
- 1967 – Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin filmed an unidentified subject, which they claimed was Bigfoot, at Six Rivers National Forest in California.
- 1984 – The Spanish trawler Sonia sank in British waters after a five-hour chase by the Irish Naval Service patrol vessel Aisling, during which almost 600 shots were fired.
- 1991 – An earthquake struck the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing at least 768 people and destroying thousands of homes.
- Sennacherib (d. 681 BC)
- Bálint Balassi (b. 1554)
- Simon de Vos (b. 1603)
- Stéphane Hessel (b. 1917)
From today's featured list
The discography of Daya, an American singer, includes one studio album, three extended plays (EP), twenty-two singles (including three as a featured artist), seventeen music videos, and two promotional singles. Daya signed with Artbeatz in 2015 and released her debut single, "Hide Away", which peaked at number 23 in the United States and the top 20 elsewhere. It preceded her 2015 self-titled debut EP, which charted in Canada, Denmark, Sweden, and the United States. She featured on the Chainsmokers' single "Don't Let Me Down" (2015), which peaked at number 3 in the United States and the top 10 in other countries. Daya's single "Sit Still, Look Pretty" (2016) reached number 28 in the United States and its parent album reached the top 40. With Interscope Records in 2017, she released "New" and featured on Gryffin and Illenium's single "Feel Good". Among Daya's several singles in 2019, "Insomnia" charted at number 12 in Norway and number 79 in Ireland. She released the EPs The Difference and In Between Dreams in 2021 and 2022, respectively. (Full list...)
Today's featured picture
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Fred Sullivan (1837–1877) was an English actor and singer. Born into a musical family, he trained as an architectural draftsman but abandoned the profession for a stage career. In 1871, he first performed the role of Mr. Cox in a revival of his brother Arthur Sullivan's comic opera Cox and Box, and later that year created the role of Apollo in the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Thespis. In 1875, he created his most famous role, the Learned Judge in Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury, also playing in the accompanying Offenbach piece, La Périchole. He earned enthusiastic reviews, and his portrayal of the Judge set the pattern for the subsequent Gilbert and Sullivan comic "patter" roles. He then toured in Trial and French operettas, returning for the London revival of Trial. Fred Sullivan died at the age of 39, leaving a pregnant widow and seven young children, his brother composing the song "The Lost Chord" at his bedside. This sepia photograph of Sullivan was taken by the Canadian photographer Olivier Sarony, probably in the 1870s. Photograph credit: Olivier Sarony; restored by Adam Cuerden
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