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Assyrian refugees in 1915

The Sayfo, or Assyrian genocide, was the mass slaughter and deportation of Assyrian and Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province committed by Ottoman forces and Kurdish tribes during World War I. The Assyrians lived in mountainous and remote areas and were divided into several mutually antagonistic churches. Mass killing of Assyrian civilians began in January 1915, by the Ottoman military and pro-Ottoman Kurds. Attacks on, massacres of and deportations of Christian populations continued until 1919, usually facing only sporadic armed resistance. Ottoman Assyrians living in present-day Iraq and Syria were not targeted. The Sayfo occurred concurrently with and was closely related to the Armenian genocide. Motives included a perceived lack of loyalty among some Assyrian communities to the Ottoman Empire and a desire to appropriate their land. In 1919 the Assyrians said that roughly 250,000 were killed in the genocide, about half the pre-war population. (Full article...)

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On this day

October 14: Defenders Day in Ukraine

Tabinshwehti

1548 – Forces of the Burmese Toungoo dynasty led by King Tabinshwehti (depicted) departed Martaban to begin an invasion of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
1947 – American test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier, reaching Mach 1.06 on board the Bell X-1, an experimental rocket-powered aircraft.
1980 – The 6th Congress of the Workers' Party concluded, having anointed North Korean president Kim Il-sung's son Kim Jong-il as his successor.
2011 – Michael Woodford was dismissed as the CEO of the optics manufacturer Olympus after uncovering internal financial misconduct, escalating the corporate scandal into one of the largest in Japanese business history.
2012 – Felix Baumgartner jumped from a helium balloon in the stratosphere to become the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power.

Al-Mu'tamid (d. 892)
Mary Margaret O'Reilly (b. 1865)
Julius Nyerere (d. 1999)

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Yuri Lowenthal

The action-adventure game Marvel's Spider-Man garnered 12 awards out of 77 nominations in a variety of categories, with particular praise for its story, characters, performances, and music. At the 2018 Gamers' Choice Awards, the game received eight nominations and went on to win three awards: Fan Favorite Action Game, Fan Favorite Single Player Gaming Experience, and Fan Favorite Character of the Year for Yuri Lowenthal (pictured) as Peter Parker / Spider-Man. At the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards the game received twenty-one nominations and went on to win three awards for Engineering; Game, Franchise Action; and Performance in a Drama, Supporting for Laura Bailey as Mary Jane Watson. At the 22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the game earned eleven nominations and won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Animation. Marvel's Spider-Man appeared on several lists of the top video games of 2018, being ranked in first place by Wired, and second place by Apple Daily and Time. (Full list...)

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A mudpot, or mud pool, is a type of acidic hot spring, or fumarole, with limited water. It usually takes the form of a pool of bubbling mud. The acid and microorganisms decompose surrounding rock into clay and mud. The mud of a mudpot takes the form of a viscous, often bubbling, slurry. As the boiling mud is often squirted over the brims of the mudpot, a sort of mini-volcano of mud starts to build up, sometimes reaching heights of 1 to 1.5 meters (3 to 5 ft). The mud is generally of white to greyish color, sometimes stained with reddish or pink spots from iron compounds. When the slurry is particularly colorful, the feature may be referred to as a paint pot. This video of a bubbling mudpot was captured in Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California.

Video credit: Frank Schulenburg

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