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From today's featured article

William I (Old Norman: Williame I; Old English: Willelm I; c. 1028 – 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. The descendant of Viking raiders, he had been Duke of Normandy since 1035. After a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands and by difficulties with his eldest son.

William was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by Robert's mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, as did the anarchy that plagued the first years of his rule. During his childhood and adolescence, members of the (Full article...)

Did you know...

• ... that the Sacred Heart Church in Exeter, England is the earliest surviving architectural work of Leonard Stokes?
• ... that the Battle of Hampton Roads was perhaps the most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies?
• ... that Donald Trump was elected the 45th US President and defeated Hillary Clinton?
• ... that there are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac?
• ... that Istanbul was formerly known as Constantinople and before 324AD was known as Byzantium?
• ... that some people think approximately 300 years of phantom time were added to the Western calendar in the Early Middle Ages
• ... that the President of the US, the Supreme Court and Congress are three significant branches of the US Government?

In the news (from Infogalactic News)

• After Thousands Of Parents Refused To Comply Another CA School District Vax Mandate Falls
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• Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty of 5 Of 6 Charges
  Will She Be Epsteined?
• Aaron Rodgers: "If Science Can't Be Questioned, It's Not Science Anymore"
  "It's Propoganda"
  

• Jake Tapper's Producer Resigns From CNN
  Amid Pedo Scandal
• Israel Orders 100 Million Eggs Due To Bird Flu Outbreak
  Eggs And Hens Must Be Destroyed To Contain The Outbreak
• Twitter Suspends mRNA Tech Inventor Dr. Robert Malone
  Ran Counter To Covid Narrative
• Life Expectancy In 2020 Fell 2.3% To 77 Years
  Does This Justify The Covid Panic?
  

On this day...

May 13

• 1568 – Battle of Langside: The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
• 1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the "First Fleet") to establish a penal colony in Australia.
• 1848 – First performance of Finland's national anthem.
• 1958 – May 1958 crisis: A group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria.
• 1990 – Dinamo Zagreb-Red Star Belgrade riot
• 1996 – Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.
• 2000 – In Enschede, the Netherlands, a fireworks factory explodes, killing 22 people, wounding 950, and resulting in approximately €450 million in damage.

• More anniversaries:
  • May 12
  • May 13
  • May 14

May 14

• 1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
• 1747 – War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre.
• 1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.
• 1940 – World War II: The Battle of the Netherlands ends with the Netherlands surrendering to Germany.
• 1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
• 1988 – Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire.
• 2012 – Agni Air Flight CHT crashes near Jomsom Airport in Jomsom, Nepal, after a failed go-around, killing 15 people.

• More anniversaries:
  • May 13
  • May 14
  • May 15

• 1252 – Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
• 1730 – Hugh Walpole effectively became the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
• 1811 – Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
• 1969 – People's Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan has an impromptu student park owned by University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot called Bloody Thursday.
• 2008 – California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
• 2010 – Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.

• More anniversaries:
  • May 14
  • May 15
  • May 16

Today's featured picture

Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləm vɑn ˈɣɔx];<ref group =note>The pronunciation of "Van Gogh" varies in both English and Dutch. Especially in British English it is /ˌvæn ˈɡɒx/ van-GOKH or sometimes /ˌvæn ˈɡɒf/ van-GOF. U.S. dictionaries list /ˌvæn ˈɡoʊ/ van-GOH, with a silent gh, as the most common pronunciation. In the dialect of Holland, it is [ˈvɪnsɛnt fɑŋˈxɔx], with a voiceless V. He grew up in Brabant (although his parents were not born there), and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: [vɑɲˈʝɔç], with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh.

Van Gogh painted several versions of landscapes with flowers, including his View of Arles with Irises, and paintings of flowers, including Irises, Sunflowers, lilacs and roses. Some reflect his interests in the language of color, and also in Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints. (Full article...)

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