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From today's featured article

AFSWP patch

The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) was a United States military agency responsible for those aspects of nuclear weapons that remained under military control after the Manhattan Project was succeeded by the Atomic Energy Commission on 1 January 1947. These included the maintenance, storage, security and handling of nuclear weapons, and support for nuclear weapons testing. Early nuclear weapons were complex and cumbersome, and stored as components rather than complete devices due to the short shelf life of their lead-acid batteries and modulated neutron initiators, and the heat generated by the fissile cores. As nuclear weapons development proceeded, mass-produced models became available that were easier to store, handle, maintain and assemble, and the AFSWP became more involved in stockpile management, and providing administrative, technical and logistical support. In 1959, the AFSWP became the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), a field agency of the Department of Defense. (Full article...)

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Dinah Washington

... that a ranking of the greatest double-entendre songs of all time included "Big Long Slidin' Thing" by Dinah Washington (pictured), "Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl" by Bessie Smith, "It Ain't the Meat (It's the Motion)" by the Swallows, "Keep On Churnin' (Till the Butter Comes)" by Wynonie Harris, and "Big Ten Inch Record" by Aerosmith?
... that XO was one of the lowest-selling games in the Super Robot Wars series due to Xbox 360's unwelcoming commercial and critical reception in Japan?
... that Frances Spatz Leighton was called the "Queen of Female Ghosts" for ghostwriting many memoirs?
... that the 1988 Bruges speech by Margaret Thatcher has been described as "setting the UK on the path to Brexit"?
... that after Illinois overhauled its Freedom of Information Act on January 1, 2010, the law became regarded as one of the most liberal public-records statutes in the United States?
... that in 1982, a Magnificat in German composed in 1707 for soprano, traverso, strings, and continuo and attributed to Bach and Telemann, was identified as a composition by Melchior Hoffmann?
... that Spanish physicist Teresa Rodrigo worked on the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN and the discovery of the top quark at Fermilab?
... that Manner, a Macau entertainment company, opened a store that sells almond biscuits with condom-looking wrapping, and gives customers free beef jerky if they show a parking ticket?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Vaccines; Portal

The EU (blue) and the UK (orange)

An attack at Aden International Airport, Yemen, leaves twenty-five people dead and more than a hundred others injured.
An earthquake strikes Petrinja, Croatia, killing seven people.
The European Union and the United Kingdom (map shown) reach an agreement governing their relationship after Brexit.
The closest great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn since 1623 occurs.

On this day

January 1: Public Domain Day; Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Roman Rite Catholicism)

Ellis Island

1068 – Having been pardoned by Eudokia Makrembolitissa, the regent of the Byzantine Empire, for attempting to usurp the throne, Romanos IV Diogenes married her to become Byzantine emperor.
1818 – Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, a novel by the British author Mary Shelley, was first published anonymously in London.
1892 – The immigration station on Ellis Island (pictured) in New York Harbor opened, and would process almost 12 million immigrants to the United States over the course of its existence.
1957 – The revised Thai criminal code came into force, strengthening the law on lèse-majesté in Thailand to include insult, and treating it as a crime against national security.
2011 – A suicide bombing took place outside a Coptic Orthodox church in Alexandria, Egypt, following a New Year service, killing 23 people.

Eugène-Anatole Demarçay (b. 1852)
Wilhelm Canaris (b. 1887)
Betty Archdale (d. 2000)

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From today's featured list

Penang Hill

Ten hill stations have been built in Malaysia's mountainous areas. Four are in the state of Pahang, two are in Perak, and one each are in Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Penang and Selangor. Cameron Highlands is the largest hill station, covering 71,220 hectares (175,988 acres) of land, as well as the highest, at an elevation of 1,830 metres (6,004 ft) above sea level. The concept of a hill station in Malaysia began during the colonial period. The British were not used to the environment, especially the hot tropical weather, endemic illnesses, and mosquito breeding areas. As a result, they began looking for alternative ways to allow British people to stay in tropical countries for longer durations, as the travel distance and the British government's leave policy prevented any people who had settled in tropical countries from returning to Britain on a regular basis. Due to Malaysia's geographical factors and abundant natural beauty, the British government built hill stations in the country. The first hill station, Penang Hill (pictured), was founded in 1787 on Penang Island. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

A still life is a work of art depicting inanimate subject matter, typically either natural things such as flowers, dead animals, food, rocks or shells, or man-made objects. As a genre, still-life painting began with Netherlandish painting in the 16th and 17th centuries. The wealthy Dutch Empire's trade enabled the importation of spices, sugar and exotic fruits into the country, and new ingredients such as dates, rice, cinnamon, ginger, nuts, and saffron became available. This oil-on-panel still life from the 1620s by the Flemish artist Osias Beert is entitled Dishes with Oysters, Fruit, and Wine, and includes a rare early depiction of sugar in art. The painting now hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Painting credit: Osias Beert

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