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From today's featured article

Ernest Joyce (c. 1875 – 1940) was a Royal Naval seaman and Antarctic explorer who served under both Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton in the early years of the 20th century. Joyce entered the navy as a boy seaman in 1891; his Antarctic experiences began in 1901 when he joined Scott's Discovery Expedition. In 1907 Shackleton recruited him to take charge of dogs and sledges on the Nimrod Expedition, a role he performed with distinction. Thus Shackleton employed him in a similar capacity in 1914, as a member of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition's Ross Sea party. Despite Joyce's acknowledged heroism during that expedition, it ended his exploring career, although he made attempts to join other expeditions. An abrasive and sometimes truculent character, his effectiveness in the field was nonetheless widely acknowledged. He was awarded a lifesaving Albert Medal and a Polar Medal with four bars, but Joyce made no significant material gains from his exploits, living out his post-Antarctic life in humble circumstances before dying suddenly in 1940. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Black band disease on brain coral

... that many coral diseases, such as black band disease (pictured), are named after their main symptom?
... that Barbara A. Bailar resigned from the United States Census Bureau in 1988 to protest a decision not to adjust the 1990 results for systematic undercounting of minorities?
... that before the Han–Liu War, many soldiers bought coffins as they were prepared to fight to the death?
... that Auguste Le Guennant, the director of the Gregorian Institute of Paris, had Duruflé's Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens dedicated to him?
... that Rodinná pouta, the first original series broadcast by the Czech Prima televize, attracted over one million viewers per episode?
... that when Whitefoord Russell Cole threatened striking workers with dismissal and pension loss in 1921, his house was "bombarded with bottles until its concrete porch was littered with glass"?
... that, in 1944, eleven battalions of the Government Army of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia were sent to northern Italy to support German military operations?
... that Jamaican sprinter Dominique Blake was accidentally awarded a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women's 4 × 400 m relay?

In the news

Borut Pahor

Borut Pahor (pictured) is re-elected President of Slovenia.
An earthquake strikes the border between Iraq and Iran, killing over 500 people and injuring more than 7,000 others.
The Paradise Papers—more than 13 million financial documents relating to offshore investment—are leaked.
In the U.S. community of Sutherland Springs, Texas, 26 people are killed and 20 others are injured in a mass shooting at a Baptist church.
Amidst reforms by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, more than 40 senior Saudi princes and ministers are arrested on corruption charges.
In baseball, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks defeat the Yokohama DeNA BayStars to win the Japan Series.

On this day...

November 14: World Diabetes Day

Eugene Burton Ely taking off from a warship

1910 – Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performed the first takeoff from a ship (pictured), flying from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in the U.S. state of Virginia.
1941 – Second World War: After suffering torpedo damage the previous day, the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sank as she was being towed to Gibraltar for repairs.
1970 – Southern Airways Flight 932, chartered by the Marshall University football team, crashed into a hill near Ceredo, West Virginia, U.S., killing all 75 people on board.
1995 – As a result of budget conflicts between President Bill Clinton and the United States Congress led by Newt Gingrich, the federal government was forced to shut down non-essential services.
2003 – Astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz discovered the trans-Neptunian object 90377 Sedna.

William Ames (d. 1633) · Leopold Mozart (b. 1719) · Claude Monet (b. 1840)

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Today's featured picture

The Salting Madonna is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Antonello da Messina completed c. 1460–1469. It depicts Mary (the Madonna) holding the Christ Child and wearing an ornate golden crown, held by angels over her head. It is housed in the National Gallery, London. The name refers to George Salting, the collector who donated it to the gallery in 1910.

Painting: Antonello da Messina

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