From today's featured article
The Low Memorial Library is a building at the center of Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan, New York City, United States. Designed by Charles Follen McKim of the firm McKim, Mead & White, the building was constructed between 1895 and 1897 as the central library of Columbia's library system. Columbia University president Seth Low funded the building and named it in memory of his father, Abiel Abbot Low. Its facade and interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is also a National Historic Landmark. Low is shaped like a Greek cross and is four stories tall, excluding a ground-level basement. The first floor contains an ambulatory around an octagonal rotunda. The stacks had space for 1.5 million volumes. The building was poorly suited for library use, but its central location made it a focal point of the university's campus. Following the completion of the much larger Butler Library in 1934, Low was converted to administrative offices. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that Nettie Metcalf was the first woman recognized by the American Poultry Association for creating a breed of chicken, the Buckeye chicken (example pictured), in the 1890s?
- ... that Gary Kemp put subtle references to Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita in his lyrics for Spandau Ballet's "True" so Clare Grogan would know the song was about her?
- ... that the home of American revolutionary leader John Cooper was used by General Lord Cornwallis as his headquarters during the British occupation of Woodbury, New Jersey, in 1777?
- ... that the Morane-Borel military monoplane participated in the Reims Military Aviation Competition, where it lost?
- ... that in 1858, when Congress delayed its decision on Oregon statehood, Nathaniel H. Gates became the last Speaker of Oregon’s Territorial House of Representatives?
- ... that Teardown was not traditionally marketed because of the popularity it gained through Twitter?
- ... that Orion Anderson, who was murdered by a lynch mob in Virginia in 1889, was recently found to have been only 14 years old at the time of his death?
- ... that a reviewer warned that Totoro would lead to "sore cheeks"?
In the news
- American basketball player Brittney Griner (pictured) and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout are freed via a prisoner exchange.
- After a failed attempt at dissolving Congress, Peruvian president Pedro Castillo is impeached and removed from office, and Dina Boluarte becomes the country's first female president.
- The final Boeing 747 aircraft to be built rolls off the assembly line at Everett, Washington, United States.
- Jiang Zemin, former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, dies at the age of 96.
On this day
December 10: Human Rights Day around the world; Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, Sweden
- 1684 – Edmond Halley presented the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, containing Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, to the Royal Society.
- 1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was released in Edinburgh.
- 1907 – During the Brown Dog affair, protesters marched through London and clashed with police officers in Trafalgar Square over the existence of a memorial (pictured) for animals that had been vivisected.
- 1941 – Second World War: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers east of Malaya.
- 1989 – At the first open pro-democracy demonstration in Mongolia, journalist Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announced the formation of the Mongolian Democratic Union, which would be instrumental in ending communist rule four months later.
- Ignatius Behnam Hadloyo (d. 1454)
- Isaac Beeckman (b. 1588)
- Jasuben Shilpi (b. 1948)
Today's featured picture
The lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus) is a species of bird in the roller family, Coraciidae. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, and is a vagrant to the southern Arabian Peninsula. It prefers open woodland and savanna, and it is for the most part absent from treeless places. Usually found alone or in pairs, it perches at the tops of trees, poles or other high vantage points from where it can spot insects, amphibians, crabs and small birds moving about on the ground. Nesting takes place in a natural hole in a tree where a clutch of two to four eggs are laid, and incubated by both parents, who are extremely aggressive in defence of their nest, taking on raptors and other birds. This lilac-breasted roller, of the subspecies C. c. caudatus, was photographed perching on a branch in Chobe National Park, Botswana. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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