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From yesterday's featured article

Harriet Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville

Harriet Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville (29 August 1785 – 25 November 1862), was a British society hostess and writer. The younger daughter of Lady Georgiana Spencer and the 5th Duke of Devonshire, she was a member of the wealthy Cavendish and Spencer families. In 1809, Harriet married Granville Leveson-Gower, a diplomat who had been her maternal aunt's lover for seventeen years. During intermittent periods between 1824 and 1841, Granville served as the British ambassador to France, requiring Harriet to perform an array of social duties in Paris that she often found exhausting. A prolific writer of letters, Harriet corresponded with others for most of her life, often describing her observations of those around her. Historians have since found her detailed accounts to be a valuable source of information on life as an ambassadress as well as life in the 19th-century aristocracy. Between 1894 and 1990, four edited collections of Harriet's correspondence were published. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

James R. Thompson Center
James R. Thompson Center
  • ... that the namesake of the James R. Thompson Center (pictured) once called it a "scrap heap"?
  • ... that by 2010 Yi Kŭmch'ŏl had written approximately one-fifth of all North Korean science fiction literature?
  • ... that members of the Sole Front for Women's Rights staged a hunger strike outside the Mexican president's official residence?
  • ... that the Royal Alderney Militia were described as "totally inefficient" and "useless" by two generals in the mid–19th century?
  • ... that the voice actress for Marin Kitagawa said that she would get very hungry after recording lines for the role?
  • ... that the person who coined the term "Barbenheimer" did not recall writing it?
  • ... that medical doctor Jules LaDuron tried to stab someone with a bayonet?
  • ... that the Carthaginians faked agreement to a peace deal after a battle to train their surviving forces for the next one?
  • ... that Miriam Silverberg's academic career ended with Erotic Grotesque Nonsense?

In the news (For today)

Miguel Uribe Turbay in 2019
Miguel Uribe Turbay

On the previous day

August 29: Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist (Catholicism, Anglicanism); Qixi Festival in China (2025)

Daimler Reitwagen replica
Daimler Reitwagen replica
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From yesterday's featured list

John Forslund
John Forslund

The Seattle Kraken throughout their history have been primarily televised on Root Sports Northwest and radio broadcast primarily on KJR-FM. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. John Forslund serves as the team's television play-by-play announcer. J. T. Brown is the Kraken's primary television color analyst. In August 2022, the team hired Eddie Olczyk to be a television analyst alongside Forslund and Brown. Everett Fitzhugh serves as the team's primary radio play-by-play announcer. He is the first Black full-time play-by-play announcer in NHL history. Dave Tomlinson served as Fitzhugh's color analyst for the Kraken's first two seasons, before resigning in August 2023. The Kraken hired commentator Al Kinisky to replace him. (Full list...)

Yesterday's featured picture

American avocet

The American avocet (Recurvirostra americana) is a large wader in the avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae, found in North America. It spends much of its time foraging in shallow water or on mud flats, often sweeping its bill from side to side in water as it seeks crustacean and insect prey. The bird is around 40–51 cm (16–20 in) in length and has a bill which is black, pointed, and curved slightly upwards towards the tip. Its breeding habitat consists of marshes, beaches, prairie ponds, and shallow lakes in the Midwestern United States and southern Canada. This American avocet was photographed in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge East Pond, New York City, United States.

Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

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