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From today's featured article

Camille in the Gulf of Mexico

Hurricane Camille was the third named storm of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed as a tropical depression on August 14 south of Cuba; it strengthened and struck western Cuba the next day as a hurricane, killing at least five people. Camille strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico on August 16 and two days later moved ashore in Mississippi, attaining maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (282 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 900 mb (27 inHg). Camille killed at least 343 people in the US and caused $1.42 billion in damages, making it the country's most expensive hurricane at the time. In southern Mississippi, the hurricane produced the largest storm surge in American history at the time, with a peak water level of 24.6 ft (7.5 m). The highest rainfall total was 27 in (69 cm), recorded in Virginia, and was the highest rainfall recorded in the state related to a tropical cyclone. The name Camille was retired following the 1969 hurricane season. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Rimbi Temple

... that Rimbi Temple (pictured) appears to be cleaved in two?
... that Bugis troops fought on both sides of the Riau War, and chatted to one another before fighting began?
... that President Sukarno sought permission to marry Hartini two days after his wife Fatmawati gave birth?
... that "one of the most iconic paintings of Indonesian modern art" shows an annoyed sex worker?
... that a slave raid in 1659 was an early instance of European contact with the island of Raijua?
... that Indonesia's first woman sculptor reportedly donated her children's jewellery to support the National Revolution?
... that a feminist journal saw its circulation improve after protests over milk prices?
... that mandai is made by fermenting the pith of Artocarpus integer fruits?

In the news

Earthquake damage in East Manggarai Regency

A magnitude-7.7 earthquake (damage pictured) strikes off the coast of Flores, Indonesia, causing at least 68 deaths.
Former premier of China Zhu Rongji dies at the age of 97.
A solar eclipse causes totality from Siberia to Iberia.
A ferry capsizes on Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe, leaving at least 84 people dead.
A magnitude-7.4 earthquake strikes Chocó Department, Colombia, leaving at least 294 people dead.

On this day

August 17

Richard Wagner

1676 – Scanian War: Swedish forces defeated Danish troops at the Battle of Halmstad.
1876 – The premiere of Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner (pictured) closed the first Bayreuth Festival.
1915 – A category 4 hurricane made landfall in Galveston, Texas, leaving at least 275 people dead.
1943 – Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met in a secret conference in Quebec.
1945 – The independence of Indonesia was proclaimed, igniting a revolution against the Dutch Empire.

Li Shouzhen (d. 949)
Margaret Hamilton (b. 1936)
Austin Butler (b. 1991)
Kim Kum Yong (b. 2001)

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From today's featured list

"Sweet Home Chicago" performed at the White House with Barack Obama joining B. B. King on the chorus

Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues standards come from different eras and styles, including ragtime-vaudeville, Delta blues, country blues, and urban blues from Chicago and the West Coast. Many blues standards were first recorded in the pre-World War II acoustic blues era, before music publications tracked the sales of blues records. Many popular renditions, as reflected in the record charts, are more modern versions featuring electric instruments. For example, Robert Johnson and Tampa Red, who were the first to record the most blues standards on the list at four each, performed them as solo or duo acoustic performances. B. B. King (pictured – second from right) and Muddy Waters used electric blues-ensemble arrangements. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The western reef heron (Egretta gularis), also known as the western reef egret, is a medium-sized bird in the heron family, Ardeidae. It is found mainly along coasts in Africa and parts of Europe and Asia. The species occurs in white, dark grey and intermediate plumage forms. It feeds on fish, crustaceans and molluscs, stalking or ambushing prey in shallow water. The western reef heron breeds in coastal wetlands, nesting colonially on platforms of sticks in trees or shrubs and typically laying three or four eggs. Two subspecies are commonly recognised: E. g. gularis and E. g. schistacea. It was first described by Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc in 1792. This western reef heron of the subspecies schistacea was photographed at Dohat Arad Lagoon, Muharraq, Bahrain.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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