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From today's featured article

French battleship Patrie

The République class consisted of a pair of pre-dreadnought battleships—République and Patrie (pictured)—built for the French Navy in the early 1900s. They were a significant improvement over previous French battleships, with the same four 305 mm (12 in) guns and eighteen 164 mm (6.5 in) guns, but with most of the 164 mm guns mounted in gun turrets rather than in casemates. They also had more effective armored protection. Both ships entered service in January 1907, shortly after the British HMS Dreadnought made all existing battleships obsolescent. During World War I, both ships operated in the Mediterranean. Patrie supported the Gallipoli campaign from May 1915 and République joined her in January 1916. Both ships then became involved in Greece, where they assisted a coup against the neutral but pro-German government that ultimately led to Greece's entry into the war on the side of the Allies. Neither ship saw any further action. République was decommissioned in 1921, and Patrie not until 1937. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Work No. 227: The lights going on and off (2000)

... that Martin Creed's installation Work No. 227: The lights going on and off (pictured) has been described as "the first truly great artwork of the twenty-first century"?
... that on the first day of the East L.A. walkouts, Vickie Castro's car was used to take down a fence at Roosevelt High School?
... that a German theologian wrote "Vertraut den neuen Wegen" to be sung at a wedding in Eisenach shortly before the fall of the Wall?
... that Rosemary Crumlin, author of a 60-year history of the Blake Prize for religious art, first attended a Blake exhibition when she was a young novice with the Australian Sisters of Mercy?
... that within three years, American subscription television service ON TV went from boasting 725,000 subscribers in eight cities to being out of business?
... that English clergyman Wilfrid T. F. Castle wrote the first book-length account of the postal history of Cyprus?
... that in the Neon Genesis Evangelion episode "A Transfer", Arthur Schopenhauer's hedgehog's dilemma is mentioned?
... that Len Fisher won the 1999 Ig Nobel Prize for physics for his research on the optimal way to dunk a biscuit?

In the news

Jared Butler

In basketball, the Stanford Cardinal win the NCAA Division I Women's Championship and the Baylor Bears win the Men's Championship (Men's MOP Jared Butler pictured).
Cyclone Seroja makes landfall in Indonesia and East Timor, killing at least 160 people and displacing thousands of others.
In rowing, both Cambridge men's and women's crews win The Boat Race.
An express train derails in Hualien County, Taiwan, killing at least 50 people.

On this day

April 7: National Beer Day in the United States

Juvénal Habyarimana

1862 – American Civil War: Union forces defeated Confederate troops at the Battle of Shiloh, the bloodiest battle in U.S. history at the time, in Hardin County, Tennessee.
1896 – An Arctic expedition led by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen reached 86°13.6′N, almost three degrees beyond the previous Farthest North latitude.
1948 – The United Nations established the World Health Organization to act as a coordinating authority on international public health.
1994 – Rwandan Civil War: The Rwandan genocide began a few hours after the assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana (pictured), with hundreds of thousands killed in the following 100 days.
2017 – A hijacked truck was deliberately driven into crowds along Drottninggatan in Stockholm, Sweden, killing five people.

George the Standard-Bearer (d. 821)
Bert Ironmonger (b. 1882)
Santa Barraza (b. 1951)

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Today's featured picture

Danaus genutia, the common tiger or striped tiger, is a species of brush-footed butterfly found in Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, south-eastern Asia and Australia. It prefers areas of moderate to heavy rainfall, and typical habitats include scrubby jungle, deciduous forests and fallow land near habitations. The insect sequesters toxins from plants, and advertises its unpalatability by having prominent markings and striking colour patterns. This adult male common tiger, of the subspecies D. g. genutia, was photographed in Kerala, India.

Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp

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