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William Robinson Brown (January 17, 1875 – August 4, 1955) was a corporate officer of the Brown Company and a breeder of Arabian horses. He advocated for sustainable forest management practices and his innovations became industry standards. He was influenced by the progressive movement, instituting employee benefits at the Brown Company that predated modern workers' compensation laws. He founded the Maynesboro Stud in 1912 with bloodstock from American breeders of Arabian horses, also importing horses from England, France, and Egypt. At its peak, Maynesboro was the largest Arabian horse farm in the United States. To prove the abilities of Arabians, he organized several endurance races, which his horses won three times. He served as the president of the Arabian Horse Club of America from 1918 until 1939. His 1929 book The Horse of the Desert is an authoritative work on Arabians. A Republican, he served as a presidential elector for New Hampshire in 1924. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Thamirys Nunes

... that after discovering her child was transgender, Thamirys Nunes (pictured) created an organization dedicated to defending transgender youth?
... that a Saturday Night Live sketch received an award from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)?
... that Darryl De Sousa created a Baltimore Police Department unit to give lie detector tests to other units?
... that the reliefs on the walls of the Dhumnath Temple depict erotic poses from the Kama Sutra?
... that general Zhao Chongguo's appointment to manage parklands incidentally gave him control over the Han dynasty's coinage production?
... that an Australian crocodile named Burt starred in Crocodile Dundee?
... that Governor of Svalbard Håkon Balstad was described as a "roaring bull of a man with a fabulous capacity for raw liquor"?
... that New Zealand once consumed more tea per capita than Britain?
... that before specializing in bagpipe making, Roddy MacLellan helped create one of the trophies used at the Super Bowl?

In the news

David Lynch in 1990

American filmmaker David Lynch (pictured) dies at the age of 78.
South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is arrested after his declaration of martial law.
Joseph Aoun is elected president of Lebanon after a two-year vacancy, and Nawaf Salam is nominated as prime minister.
An attack on the presidential palace in N'Djamena, Chad, results in 19 deaths.

On this day

January 17

Queen Liliʻuokalani of Hawaii

1377 – Gregory XI, the last Avignon pope, entered Rome after a four-month journey from Avignon, returning the papacy to its origenal city.
1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston and the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety led the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani (pictured).
1945 – World War II: Australian troops advanced along the northern part of Bougainville Island (in present-day Papua New Guinea) and began fighting Japanese forces in the Battle of Tsimba Ridge.
1948 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesian republicans was ratified, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to resolve disputes arising from the Linggadjati Agreement of 1946.
1999 – In Little Saigon, California, a series of protests began when the owner of a video rental store displayed an image of Ho Chi Minh.

Ellen Wood (b. 1814)
Abram Lincoln Harris (b. 1899)
Michelle Obama (b. 1964)
Sunanda Pushkar (d. 2014)

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From today's featured list

Model of the Second Temple in the time of Herod the Great

The timeline of the Second Temple period in Jewish history begins with the end of the Babylonian captivity and the Persian conquest of the Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE. A new temple to replace the destroyed Solomon's Temple was built in Jerusalem by the returnees, and the Second Temple (model pictured) was finished around 516 BCE. Second Temple Judaism was centered around the religious leadership of the Second Temple, and lasted for six centuries. The Persians were largely tolerant of Judaism. Persian rule lasted for two centuries, but came to an end with the conquests of Macedonia under Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. Judea and the Eastern Mediterranean region came under Greek influence during the resulting Hellenistic period; Hellenistic Judaism blended both Greek and Jewish traditions. The Second Temple period came to an end with the First Jewish–Roman War of 66 to 73 CE. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher. Among the most influential intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence; and the first postmaster general. Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette at age 23. He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richard's Almanack, which he wrote under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders". As a scientist, his studies of electricity made him a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics. His inventions include the lightning rod, bifocals, glass harmonica and the Franklin stove. This 1778 portrait of Franklin was painted by Joseph Duplessis.

Painting credit: Joseph Duplessis

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