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From today's featured article

Map plotting Dorian's track and intensity

Hurricane Dorian was the strongest hurricane to affect the Bahamas, causing catastrophic damage in September 2019. Dorian originated from a tropical wave off the western coast of Africa on August 19 and became a tropical storm on August 24. It strengthened over the next few days and on August 27 made landfalls on Barbados and Saint Lucia before entering the Caribbean Sea, where it became a Category 1 hurricane as it moved over the United States Virgin Islands. Dorian achieved Category 5 intensity on September 1 and peak intensity with winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and a central pressure of 910 mbar (hPa; 26.87 inHg) while making landfall at Elbow Cay in the Bahamas. Weakening steadily throughout the next day, the storm's forward momentum slowed drastically while it was crossing over Grand Bahama. On September 6, Dorian made landfall at Cape Hatteras as a Category 2 hurricane. It transitioned into a post-tropical cyclone on September 7 just before passing over Nova Scotia and was absorbed by a larger extratropical cyclone on September 9. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

1847 caricature of Barnett Nathan

... that Barnett Nathan (caricature pictured) was famous for dancing the hornpipe, while blindfolded, on a stage covered with eggs and teaware?
... that Shandon Castle was destroyed in the Siege of Cork in 1690, and sandstone from its ruins used to build the Church of St Anne in 1722?
... that baseball pitcher Dennis Rasmussen nearly had to have his foot amputated when he was 14 years old?
... that the Ćmielów Porcelain Works are Poland's oldest porcelain works, and Europe's largest thin-walled-china works?
... that Biserka Cvejić, a Serbian mezzo-soprano who appeared at the Vienna State Opera in 372 performances, made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1961 as Amneris in Verdi's Aida?
... that the theme song for the tabletop role-playing game F.A.T.A.L. was described by a reviewer as "sound[ing] like the Cookie Monster chasing a drum kit being pushed down a flight of stairs"?
... that Francesca Coppa, a professor of English, compiled "the first anthology of fan fiction for use in the classroom"?
... that Pliofilm, a pre-war food wrap, was used to waterproof firearms during the Normandy landings?

In the news

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (pictured) becomes the first woman and the first African to be appointed Director-General of the World Trade Organization.
Former President of Argentina Carlos Menem dies at the age of 90.
Former President of the United States Donald Trump is acquitted by the Senate in his second impeachment trial.
Mario Draghi becomes Prime Minister of Italy, leading a national unity government after the resignation of Giuseppe Conte.

On this day

February 18

Enterprise on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

1268 – The Battle of Wesenberg took place between Novgorodian and Pskovian forces against the Livonian Order and its allies, ending with Russian forces retreating from Danish Estonia.
1766 – Captive Malagasy on a slave ship began a mutiny that led to the ship's destruction on Cape Agulhas in present-day South Africa and the recapture of the instigators.
1943 – Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, delivered a speech calling for a "total war" to motivate the German people as the tide of World War II turned against Germany.
1977 – NASA's first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, made its first test flight on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (both pictured).
2001 – Inter-ethnic violence between the Dayak and the Madurese broke out in Sampit, Indonesia, ultimately causing more than 500 deaths and the displacement of 100,000 Madurese from their homes.

Per Brahe the Younger (b. 1602)
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici (d. 1743)
Toni Morrison (b. 1931)

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Today's featured picture

The Barber of Seville is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The plot revolves around the clever and enterprising character Figaro, the titular barber. This 1830 lithograph by Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard depicts the storm scene near the end of the opera's second act.

Lithograph credit: Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard; restored by Adam Cuerden

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