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From today's featured article

Sarah Goodridge

Beauty Revealed is an 1828 self-portrait watercolor by the American artist Sarah Goodridge (pictured). Depicting Goodridge's bared breasts surrounded by white cloth, the portrait miniature is painted on a piece of ivory. It was originally backed with paper and is now in a modern frame. Goodridge presented the breasts as youthful and individualized, employing a frontal view that showed the area from the collarbone to just underneath the breasts. She gave the portrait to statesman Daniel Webster, who was a frequent subject and possible lover, following the death of his wife; she may have intended to provoke him into marrying her. Although Webster married someone else, his family held onto the portrait until the 1980s, when it was auctioned at Christie's and purchased by Gloria and Richard Manney. The painting was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006. It has been read as a work of erotica, as well as an expression of Goodridge's confident sexuality. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Charlie Parker Residence

... that when the residence (pictured) of musician Charlie "Bird" Parker was nominated for New York City landmark designation, one person sent a bird feather to the city government in support?
... that Trisno Sumardjo considered art to be the fruit of honesty?
... that ten American soldiers were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross after ships of the US Army Small Ships Section were attacked by Japanese aircraft?
... that Margaret Curphey's opera career as an adult was harmed by health issues stemming from a bad playground accident as a child?
... that Malcolm X once remarked that nutmeg "had the kick of three or four reefers"?
... that sharbel Maroun does not capitalize his given name out of respect for Sharbel Makhlouf?
... that Lego Vidiyo was described as TikTok, but for children?
... that according to etymologist Barry Popik, the term "sugar baby" may have been popularized by the publicity surrounding the killing of Dot King?
... that playgoers at the U.S. premiere of Walden were given bug spray?

In the news

King Khalid International Airport

The Houthis launch a series of attacks on Saudi Arabian airports, including King Khalid International Airport (satellite image shown), killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 370 others.
South African jurist Navi Pillay is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Canadian poet Anne Carson is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
American software engineer Margaret Hamilton dies at the age of 90.

On this day

October 13

Brigid Kosgei

1710 – Queen Anne's War: French and Wabanaki forces surrendered to end the Siege of Port Royal, giving the British permanent possession of Nova Scotia.
1812 – War of 1812: British troops and Mohawk warriors repelled an American invasion from across the Niagara River at the Battle of Queenston Heights near Queenston, Ontario.
1908 – British suffragette Margaret Travers Symons became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons when she escaped from her escort into the chamber and shouted at the assembly.
1994 – The Troubles: In a meeting at Fernhill House, Belfast, loyalist leader Gusty Spence announced that the Combined Loyalist Military Command would observe a ceasefire.
2019 – At the Chicago Marathon, Kenyan runner Brigid Kosgei (pictured) set the marathon world record for women running in a mixed-sex race.

Rudolf Virchow (b. 1821)
Chris Carter (b. 1956)
Bea Benaderet (d. 1968)
Joshua Wong (b. 1996)

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Today's featured picture

The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleen whale in the rorqual family, Balaenopteridae. It is found in oceans worldwide and migrates thousands of kilometres between polar feeding grounds and tropical breeding areas. The adult humpback can weigh up to 40 tonnes and typically measures 14–15 metres (46–49 ft) in length, with longer individuals up to 17 metres (56 ft) recorded. Distinguished by its unusually long pectoral fins and tubercles on its head, the humpback is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, as well as the complex songs produced by males, lasting up to 33 minutes. It feeds mainly on krill and small fish, sometimes using cooperative bubble-net feeding techniques. Driven close to extinction by commercial whaling, the species has recovered substantially since the 1960s, although entanglement in fishing gear and ship collisions remain significant threats. This humpback whale with calf was photographed off Moʼorea, an island in French Polynesia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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