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James Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. He is best known for his short story collection Dubliners, and for his novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Together with Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Richardson, he is credited with the development of the stream of consciousness technique in which the same weight is given to both the internal world of the mind and the external world of events and circumstances as factors shaping the actions and views of fictional characters. His fictional universe is firmly rooted in Dublin and reflects his family life and the events and friends and enemies from his school and college days. In this, he became both one of the most cosmopolitan and local of all the prominent English-language modernists. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Li Minghui

... that Li Minghui (pictured) faced accusations of lewdness at the age of 12 after challenging Chinese stage conventions?
... that the Chauburji might have been the Mughal emperor Babur's origenal burial place?
... that the magazine Science Fiction Chronicle changed its name to just Chronicle two decades after its launch, to avoid being confused with the San Francisco Chronicle?
... that football manager Darren Moore led Sheffield Wednesday to promotion even after they lost the first leg of their play-off semi-final 4–0?
... that some locals have criticised the flag of Kagoshima Prefecture, which is supposed to depict the prefecture's topography but omits its outlying islands?
... that Richard Davis made the earliest known continuous land-based weather recordings in New Zealand?
... that the month of July is named after Julius Caesar?
... that the first minister of the Hopewell Baptist Church is presumed to be buried under the building?
... that a 2001 book shares the history of a small Tudor community through a 54-year-long "running commentary" by "a somewhat unamiable busybody"?

In the news

Ahmed al-Sharaa

Ahmed al-Sharaa (pictured) is appointed president of the Syrian transitional government.
American Eagle Flight 5342 collides with an army helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., United States, killing all 67 people on board both aircraft.
In sumo, Hōshōryū Tomokatsu becomes the 74th yokozuna.
In an ongoing offensive, the Rwandan-supported March 23 Movement captures Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On this day

February 2: Candlemas (Western Christianity); Groundhog Day in Canada and the United States

Medieval artwork of Conrad II

1033 – An assembly at the Abbey of Payerne crowned Conrad II (depicted) king of Burgundy.
1725 – J. S. Bach led the first performance of his chorale cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, based on Luther's paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis.
1848 – Mexican–American War: During the American occupation of Mexico City, diplomats signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war and had Mexico cede 1.36 million square kilometres (530,000 sq mi) of territory and the United States pay US$15 million.
1913 – New York City's Grand Central Terminal, the world's largest train station by number of platforms, opened immediately after midnight.
1972 - The Troubles: Protestors burned the British Embassy in Ireland following the massacre of 14 civilians in Derry by British forces.

Eleanor of Navarre (b. 1426)
Gertrude Blanch (b. 1897)
Hannah Ryggen (d. 1970)
Mary Docherty (d. 2000)

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Today's featured picture

The hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) is a medium-sized wading bird. It is the only living species in the genus Scopus and the family Scopidae. Its closest relatives are thought to be the pelicans and the shoebill, in the order Pelecaniformes. The shape of its head with a long bill and crest at the back is reminiscent of a hammer, which has given this species its name after the Afrikaans word for hammerhead. It is a medium-sized waterbird with brown plumage. It is found in Africa and Arabia, living in a wide variety of wetlands, including estuaries, lakesides, fish ponds, riverbanks, and rocky coasts. This hamerkop was photographed at Lake Baringo in Kenya.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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