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From today's featured article

Pah Wongso Pendekar Boediman (Malay for Pah Wongso the Righteous Warrior) is a 1941 detective film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). It follows the schoolmaster and social worker Pah Wongso as he investigates a murder to clear his protégé's name. The first release by Star Film, it featured camerawork by Cho' Chin Hsin and was produced by Jo Eng Sek, who had previously produced Si Tjonat. It stars Pah Wongso (born Louis Wijnhamer), Elly Joenara, and Mohamad Arief. The first film of its genre to be produced in the Indies, Pah Wongso Pendekar Boediman was made to capitalize on the popularity of Wijnhamer and Hollywood characters such as Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto. Released in April 1941 to popular acclaim, it had a mixed critical reception; the reviewer Saeroen suggested that its success was entirely because of its star's renown. Pah Wongso Tersangka, a sequel, was released later that year, but this film may now be lost. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Reconstructed mount of Irritator

... that Irritator (model pictured), a spinosaurid dinosaur, was named due to the frustration of palaeontologists who discovered that its skull had been covered with plaster by fossil dealers?
... that Native American poet Jennifer Foerster co-directs a program fostering arts education for women and girls of the Muscogee Nation?
... that the French submarine Regnault, built to fight in the First World War, was named after a 19th-century chemist?
... that Derrick Barnes, author of the award-winning children's book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, began his career as the first black male copywriter for Hallmark?
... that thousands of bats are protected by monks at the Bat Pagoda in Sóc Trăng City, Vietnam?
... that the footballer Wayne Matthews started his own manufacturing business by embroidering sportswear in his bedroom?
... that a geologic fault was discovered in the Yakima, Washington, area during construction of Interstate 82?
... that after a force of Anglo-Gascon cavalry defeated a French force, they had to walk home because the surviving French had captured their horses?

In the news

Voyager 2 model

Scientists announce that Voyager 2 (artist's rendering shown) has left the heliosphere and entered interstellar space, becoming the second man-made object to do so.
In South American association football, the Copa Libertadores concludes with River Plate defeating Boca Juniors in the finals.
The sample-return spacecraft OSIRIS-REx arrives at the asteroid 101955 Bennu.
Former U.S. President George H. W. Bush dies at the age of 94.

On this day

December 13

George Gershwin

1643 – First English Civil War: Roundhead forces serving under Sir William Waller led a successful surprise attack on a winter garrison of Royalist infantry and cavalry.
1862 – American Civil War: Union forces under Ambrose Burnside suffered severe casualties against entrenched Confederate defenders at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
1928 – The premiere of An American in Paris, a jazz-influenced orchestral piece by George Gershwin (pictured), took place at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
1960 – With Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, out of the country, four conspirators staged a coup attempt and installed Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen as the new Emperor.
2001 – The Parliament of India was attacked by five gunmen, resulting in 12 deaths, including those of the perpetrators.

Francesco Bianchini (b. 1662) · Ana Néri (b. 1814) · Dora Marsden (d. 1960)

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Today's featured picture

The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), also known as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic, after the southern elephant seal. Its only natural predators are the killer whale and possibly the elephant seal. It feeds on a wide range of prey including cephalopods, other pinnipeds, krill, birds and fish. Together with the Ross seal, the crabeater seal and the Weddell seal, it is part of the tribe of lobodontini seals.

This image shows a leopard seal in the Antarctic Sound in 2016. See also the same seal yawning.

Photograph: Godot13

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