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Bouvet was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy, built in the 1890s, and armed with a main battery of two 305 mm (12 in) guns and two 274 mm (10.8 in) guns in individual turrets. A top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) made her one of the fastest battleships in the world. Bouvet spent the majority of her peacetime career conducting routine training exercises and was withdrawn from front-line service in 1907. In early 1915 during World War I the ship participated in a series of attacks on the Ottoman fortifications guarding the Dardanelles. On 18 March 1915, during a major assault, the vessel was hit approximately eight times by shellfire but was not seriously damaged. While turning to withdraw, she struck a mine and sank within two minutes; only 75 men were rescued from a complement of 718. Two British battleships were also sunk by mines the same day, and the disaster convinced the Allies to abandon the naval campaign in favor of an amphibious assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Push-ups during the congressional office lottery

... that the congressional office lottery has involved a "Jedi mind trick", head rubs, and push-ups (pictured)?
... that Snoop Dogg's original lyrics about cannabis for the song "Sunday" were sung over by Ben Rector to keep the song clean?
... that Sophie von Maltzan led the making of a submarine that was walked through the streets of Dublin?
... that the New Zealand fishing company Sealord Group is half-owned by iwi?
... that rubber barons like Carlos Scharff enslaved indigenous populations in the Upper Amazon region during the rubber boom as a workforce for latex collection?
... that the Greco-Australian dialect, a variety of Modern Greek, blends words with English roots into the Greek language?
... that Dublin property developer Harry Crosbie received an OBE from the British ambassador to Ireland, partly for entertaining Elizabeth II with his showbiz contacts?
... that the song "Luochahai City" mentions Ludwig Wittgenstein?

In the news

Pope Francis

In Nigeria, bandits kill at least 200 people in Plateau State.
A mass shooting in Prague, Czech Republic, leaves 15 people dead.
Pope Francis (pictured) approves a declaration that allows Catholic clergy to bless same-sex couples.
After weeks of earthquakes, a volcanic eruption occurs near Grindavík, Iceland.
An earthquake in Jishishan County, China, leaves more than 140 people dead.

On this day

December 29

The Squaw Man

1845 – The Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States, becoming the 28th state to be admitted to the Union.
1860 – To counter the French Navy's Gloire, the world's first ironclad warship, the Royal Navy launched HMS Warrior, the world's first iron-hulled armoured warship.
1913 – Cecil B. DeMille started filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man (featured).
1915 – First World War: The French parliament passed a law granting the land occupied by British war graves as "the free gift of the French people".
1975 – Planted by unknown perpetrators, a bomb exploded at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and seriously injuring 74 others.

Stephen Bocskai (d. 1606)
Andrew Johnson (b. 1808)
Adele Zay (d. 1928)
C. T. Hsia (d. 2013)

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From today's featured list

Tom Newman

The UK Open Billiards Championship is an English billiards tournament, first contested in 1934. Joe Davis won the inaugural UK Professional English Billiards Championship title with an 18,745–18,309 defeat of Tom Newman (pictured). After 1934, the UK Championship was the premier event of the billiards season in the UK, in the absence of any contests for the world championships. David Causier won the 2019 title, with a 632–315 victory over Mark Hirst in the final. The competition was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has not been held since. The tournament has been staged 35 times and produced 17 different champions. Mike Russell has won the title a record eight times, one more than Joe Davis's total. Causier has taken three titles, and the only other players to have won the tournament more than once are two-time champions Rex Williams, Robby Foldvari, and Roxton Chapman. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family, Picidae. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands. Adults of this species are brown with black bars on the back and wings, with a mid- to large-sized northern flicker measuring 28 to 36 cm (11 to 14 in) in length and 42 to 54 cm (17 to 21 in) in wingspan. Its body mass can vary from 86 to 167 grams (3.0 to 5.9 oz). Northern flickers are partial migrants, with those that do migrate beginning their spring migration in early April and making their return between September and October. Individuals that breed farther north travel greater distances than their migratory southern conspecifics, often resulting in the convergence of northern and southern populations at wintering sites. This male northern flicker was photographed looking out from a nesting hole in a tree in Central Park, New York City.

Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

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