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Taylor Swift performing on the Fearless Tour

Fearless is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift (pictured), released on November 11, 2008. Produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman, the album was written largely by Swift while she was promoting her 2006 self-titled debut album in 2007 and 2008. Fearless is a country pop record featuring traditional country instruments such as banjos. The lyrics explore themes of teenage romance, heartache, and aspirations. The album's title refers to the overarching theme of all of its tracks, which depict Swift gaining courage to embrace love's challenges. After the release of Fearless, Swift embarked on the Fearless Tour, which ran from April 2009 to July 2010. Two singles from the album, "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", were successful on both country and pop radio. The album spent eleven weeks atop the US Billboard 200 and was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Maria Moscisca in 1918

... that when Lviv-born Maria Moscisca (pictured) performed the title role of Verdi's La traviata at the San Francisco Opera in 1913, a review described her as "the impersonation of grace and refinement"?
... that Evelyn Wood called off the Zungwini Mountain skirmishes after learning of the Zulu victory over the British at the Battle of Isandlwana?
... that the Metropolitan main line was the first electrified revenue rapid transit in the United States?
... that the only ever hijacking of a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft began at Baucau Airport, East Timor, in 1975?
... that Wisconsin farmer-lawmaker Joseph Mleziva refused to run for a fifth term in 1948, saying, "I can't afford to continue and, besides, I'm tired of taking the abuse that comes with the job"?
... that those who toppled the Monumento a los Constructores said that it was "a symbol of subordination, representation of slavery and an emblem of the Spanish genocide"?
... that Red Blanchard, the owner of Iowa radio station KSMN, commuted 800 miles (1280 km) by plane from Mason City each week to host a radio show in Chicago?
... that one of Josquin des Prez's most popular works is about the cricket?

In the news

Jane Campion

The Power of the Dog wins Best Film and Best Director (Jane Campion pictured) at the British Academy Film Awards.
Cyclone Gombe kills at least 53 people in Mozambique.
Yoon Suk-yeol is elected president of South Korea.
The wreck of the Endurance, sunk in 1915 during Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, is discovered.
Australian cricketer Shane Warne dies at the age of 52.

On this day

March 19: Saint Joseph's Day (Western Christianity)

Bob Dylan

1277 – The Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice signed a treaty that renegotiated and extended by two years a previous treaty between them.
1808 – King Charles IV of Spain was forced to abdicate in favour of his son Ferdinand VII as a result of the Tumult of Aranjuez.
1962 – Influential American musician Bob Dylan (pictured) released his eponymous debut album, mainly comprising traditional folk songs.
1998 – An unscheduled Ariana Afghan Airlines flight crashed into a mountain on approach into Kabul, killing all 45 people aboard.
2008 – The gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B, the farthest object that could be seen by the naked eye, was observed.

Francis B. Spinola (b. 1821)
Anna Held (b. 1872)
Kym Bonython (d. 2011)

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Today's featured picture

Saint Joseph was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth, who, according to the canonical gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and Anglicanism; his feast day is observed by some Lutherans. In Catholic traditions, he is regarded as the patron saint of workers and is associated with various feast days, including Saint Joseph's Day on March 19. This oil-on-canvas painting of Saint Joseph holding the Christ Child was painted by the Italian artist Guido Reni in 1640, and is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Painting credit: Guido Reni

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