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Walaka at peak intensity south of Johnston Atoll

Hurricane Walaka was the nineteenth named storm and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season. As a tropical cyclone, it originated from an area of low pressure that formed around 1,600 mi (2,600 km) south-southeast of Hawaii on September 24, and became a tropical storm on September 29. The system tracked westward and peaked with winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) and a pressure of 921 mbar (27.20 inHg) on October 2, before accelerating northeastward and dissipating on October 7. The storm passed close to Johnston Atoll, from which four scientists were evacuated before the storm hit. East Island in the French Frigate Shoals suffered a direct hit and was destroyed. The storm damaged the nesting grounds for multiple endangered species, and coral reefs in the region suffered considerable damage, displacing the local fish population. Several dozen people were rescued off the southern shore of Oahu as the storm brought high surf to the main Hawaiian Islands. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Chelsea Waterside Park

... that the design for the water playground at Chelsea Waterside Park (pictured) was criticized because local residents thought that the sprinklers resembled sex toys?
... that Himmatul Aliyah was born in Tangerang and represents Jakarta in Indonesia's House of Representatives, while Himmatul Alyah was born in Jakarta and represented Tangerang?
... that a $10 calculator was among the best-rated Nintendo Switch games?
... that EastEnders producers decided to kill off Chantelle Atkins at the conclusion of a domestic-abuse plot after learning of the high statistic of women killed by a partner?
... that the 1874 Alabama gubernatorial election was marred by violence and fraud?
... that soprano Vera Curtis was the first singer trained exclusively in the United States to perform with the Metropolitan Opera?
... that the Daft Punk track "Infinity Repeating" is considered by the duo to be their "last song ever"?
... that Nunuk Nuraini was described as a hero for developing the mi goreng flavor of Indomie instant noodles?

In the news

Waheeda Rehman

Waheeda Rehman (pictured) receives the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for her work in Hindi cinema.
A fire at a wedding in Qaraqosh, Iraq, kills more than 110 people.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission returns samples of asteroid Bennu to Earth.
Tigst Assefa breaks the women's world record at the Berlin Marathon.

On this day

September 29: Michaelmas (Western Christianity); Mid-Autumn Festival in China (2023)

Interlocked planes after the Brocklesby mid-air collision

1011 – An army of Viking pirates that had besieged the English city of Canterbury for weeks took Archbishop Ælfheah prisoner and seized power.
1760 – The Williamsburg Bray School, the oldest-surviving school building in the U.S. dedicated to educating Black children, opened at Benjamin Franklin's suggestion.
1833 – The Spanish American wars of independence ended with the death of King Ferdinand VII, with what had once been the Spanish Empire disintegrating into independent Latin American states.
1940 – During a Royal Australian Air Force training exercise over Brocklesby, two planes collided and interlocked in mid-air (pictured); the pilot of the upper plane was able to land safely using the lower plane's engines.
1954 – Twelve countries signed a convention to establish the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which manages the world's largest particle physics laboratory.

René Goupil (d. 1642)
Lilias Armstrong (b. 1882)
Marcel Lihau (b. 1931)
Li Qiang (d. 1996)

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From today's featured list

Johnny Carson

The 51st Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1978 and took place on April 9, 1979, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Jack Haley Jr. and directed by Marty Pasetta. Comedian and talk show host Johnny Carson (pictured) hosted the show for the first time. The Deer Hunter won five awards at the main awards ceremony, including Best Picture. Other winners included Coming Home with three awards and Midnight Express with two. The telecast was watched by 46.3 million viewers and earned a 34.6 Nielsen rating in the United States. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526–1593) was an Italian Renaissance painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books. Born in Milan, he initially trained as a painter under his father Biagio Arcimboldo before serving as a court painter for the Habsburg monarchs in Vienna and Prague. Arcimboldo's oeuvre was largely forgotten after his death, and many of his works were lost. They were not mentioned in the literature of the 17th and 18th centuries, appearing again only in 1885 when the art critic K. Kasati published the monograph Giuseppe Arcimboldi, Milan Artist, describing his role as a portraitist. This pen-and-watercolour self-portrait by Arcimboldo was created in the 1570s and is now in the National Gallery Prague.

Drawing credit: Giuseppe Arcimboldo

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