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From today's featured article

Unauthorized postal cover carried on Apollo 15

The Apollo 15 postal covers incident involved the crew of NASA's Apollo 15, who in 1971 carried about 400 unauthorized postal covers (example pictured) to the Moon's surface. American astronauts David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin agreed to receive about $7,000 each for transporting the covers, which were inside the Lunar Module Falcon as Scott and Irwin walked on the Moon. The covers were postmarked both prior to liftoff from Kennedy Space Center and after splashdown. Though the astronauts returned the money, they were reprimanded by NASA for poor judgment and were called before a closed session of a Senate committee. They were removed as the backup crew for Apollo 17 and never flew in space again; by 1977, all had left NASA. In 1983, Worden sued for the return of covers that had been impounded by NASA in 1972, and the three men received them in an out-of-court settlement. One of the covers provided in 1971 to West German stamp dealer Hermann Sieger sold for over $50,000 in 2014. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Schafer at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival

... that aged 17, Hunter Schafer (pictured) was a plaintiff in a successful lawsuit against an act preventing trans people from using the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity?
... that players on the Laos national baseball team helped construct the country's first baseball stadium in 2019?
... that accountant Dan Busby studied with a minor-league umpire in hopes of becoming one himself?
... that QuizKnock created puzzle games for the Imperial Palace East Garden?
... that while filming a music video for her debut album at a motel, Underscores had the police called on her by the motel staff because they thought she was shooting a pornographic film?
... that the family drama film Little Red Sweet revolves around red bean soup, as red beans symbolize "longing for family" in Chinese culture?
... that the author of If It's You, I Might Try Falling in Love made the main characters unfamiliar with each other so that she could draw all sorts of scenarios between them?
... that singer-songwriter SZA wore a hijab as a child, but stopped wearing it due to Islamophobia after 9/11?
... that in an effort to reclaim "the most offensive word in the English language" as aspirational, some people describe being "powerful in an unapologetic and feminine manner" as "serving cunt"?

In the news

Riek Machar and Angelina Teny

A magnitude-7.7 earthquake leaves more than 3,000 people dead in Myanmar and Thailand.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition unilaterally voids the 2018 peace agreement after the arrest of South Sudanese vice president Riek Machar and his wife, interior minister Angelina Teny (both pictured).
The Sudanese Armed Forces recapture Khartoum from the Rapid Support Forces after almost two years of fighting.
Nationwide protests are held throughout Indonesia following the enactment of legislation increasing military involvement in civilian government roles.

On this day

March 31: Cesar Chavez Day in various U.S. states (1927); International Transgender Day of Visibility

Woodcut picture of Matthew C. Perry

1854 – U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry (Japanese depiction pictured) and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
1959 – After a two-week escape journey from Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama reached the Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh in India.
1964 – The Brazilian Armed Forces overthrew President João Goulart, establishing a military dictatorship that lasted 21 years.
2004 – The Old National Library Building in Singapore was closed to make way for a tunnel, despite widespread protests.

Guru Angad (b. 1504)
J. P. Morgan (d. 1913)
Ewan McGregor (b. 1971)
Ahmad Sayyed Javadi (d. 2013)

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From today's featured list

Typhoon Hagibis

There were 49 tropical cyclones in the 2019 Pacific typhoon season, the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation over the western North Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. The first cyclone of the season, Tropical Storm Pabuk, developed in late December 2018; the final cyclone, Typhoon Phanfone, dissipated on December 29, 2019. Of the 49 tropical depressions that formed during the season, 29 developed into named tropical storms, 20 became severe tropical storms and 17 became typhoons. Additionally, five typhoons became super typhoons – an unofficial rank given by the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center to storms with one-minute maximum sustained winds of at least 240 km/h (150 mph). Activity in the 2019 season was greater than normal, primarily due to high sea surface temperatures. The most destructive system was Typhoon Hagibis (pictured), which inflicted damage to Japan that amounted to ¥1.88 trillion (US$17.3 billion) and killed 118 people. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The ArtScience Museum is a building within the integrated resort of Marina Bay Sands in the Downtown Core of Singapore. Opened in 2011, it features exhibitions in art, science, culture and technology. The museum was designed by Moshe Safdie and features an exterior made of fibre-reinforced plastic supported internally by a steel lattice. It is anchored by a round base in the middle, with ten extensions referred to as "fingers" in the shape of a flower. This photograph shows the ArtScience Museum with other buildings of Singapore's Central Business District in the background.

Photograph credit: Basile Morin

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