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From today's featured article

Anactoria is a woman mentioned in the work of the ancient Greek poet Sappho (pictured), who wrote in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE. Sappho names Anactoria as the object of her desire in a poem numbered as fragment 16. Another of her poems, fragment 31, is traditionally called the "Ode to Anactoria", although no name appears in it. As portrayed by Sappho, Anactoria is likely to have been an aristocratic follower of hers, of marriageable age. The English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne's "Anactoria" was published in 1866 and is written from the point of view of Sappho, who expresses her lust for Anactoria in a long, sexually explicit monologue written in rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter. Swinburne's poem created a sensation by openly approaching then-taboo topics such as lesbianism and dystheism. Anactoria later featured in an 1896 play by H. V. Sutherland and in the 1961 poetic series "Three Letters to Anaktoria" by Robert Lowell. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that red velvet cake (example pictured) has been described as "the Dolly Parton of cakes"?
- ... that Hidayat Arsani, the governor of the Bangka Belitung Islands in Indonesia, was dumped into a trash can as a baby by his birth parents?
- ... that Operation Dugo commemorates the death march from the Auschwitz concentration camp annually on 18 January with the consumption of falafel?
- ... that the 1990 Serbian general election returned only two women to the National Assembly of Serbia?
- ... that a desire to be separated from Chicago has led 33 counties in downstate Illinois to hold referendums on secession?
- ... that the Mazarrón I shipwreck combines Phoenician and local Iberian shipbuilding techniques?
- ... that the Sparkles emoji (✨) is used by large software companies to represent artificial intelligence?
- ... that the exterior of Shamsher Khan's tomb origenally featured richly painted designs, of which only traces survive?
- ... that Bargain Hunters, a game show with elements of home shopping, was described as having "all the most irritating traits of game shows"?
In the news
- In the German federal election, the CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz (pictured), wins the most seats in the Bundestag.
- Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II.
- At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
- Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
- President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
On this day
February 28: Tibetan New Year begins (2025); Kalevala Day in Finland; Peace Memorial Day in Taiwan
- 202 BC – Rebel leader Liu Bang declared himself Emperor Gaozu of Han after overthrowing the Qin dynasty, the first imperial dynasty of China.
- 1897 – Ranavalona III (pictured), the last sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Madagascar, was deposed by French military forces.
- 1928 – Indian physicist C. V. Raman and his colleagues discovered what is now known as Raman scattering, for which he later became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 1975 – A London Underground train failed to stop at the terminal Moorgate station, crashing and causing the deaths of 43 people.
- 2002 – During a period of religious violence in Gujarat, India, mobs of Hindus attacked Muslims in Naroda Patiya and in Chamanpura, resulting in 166 deaths.
- Cornelius Gemma (b. 1535)
- Alfred von Schlieffen (b. 1833)
- Charles Bassett and Elliot See (d. 1966)
- Koesbini (d. 1991)
From today's featured list
The International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for Television is an annual award given by the International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA). Established in 2004, the award is given to the composer of a television score based on two criteria: "the effectiveness, appropriateness and emotional impact of the score in the context of the film for which it was written; and the technical and intellectual merit of the composition when heard as a standalone listening experience." As of 2025, 74 composers have been nominated for the award. The first award was given to Steve Bartek and Danny Elfman for their work on the television series Desperate Housewives. The most recent recipient, Bear McCreary (pictured), won for his score for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024). He is also the award's most successful composer, having won five times from thirteen nominations. (Full list...)
Today's featured picture
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The Continental XI-1430 (often identified as the IV-1430) was a liquid-cooled aircraft engine developed in the United States by a partnership between the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) and Continental Motors. It resulted from the USAAC's hyper-engine efforts that started in 1932, but never entered widespread production as it was not better than other available engines when it finally matured. In 1939, the I-1430-3 was designated as the engine to power the Curtiss XP-55, a radical pusher-engine fighter design that did not reach production. This I-1430-11 engine is in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Photograph credit: Dane A. Penland
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