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The flag of Canada is a red flag with a white square in its centre, featuring a stylized 11-pointed red maple leaf. It has become the predominant and most recognizable national symbol of Canada. It was adopted in 1965 to replace the Union Flag for most official purposes, although the Canadian Red Ensign had also been unofficially used since the 1860s and approved by a 1945 Order in Council. In 1964, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson appointed a committee to discuss these issues, sparking a serious debate about a flag change. Out of three choices, the maple leaf design by George Stanley, based on the flag of the Royal Military College of Canada, was chosen. It made its first appearance on February 15, 1965, a date now celebrated annually as National Flag of Canada Day. Other flags, usually containing the maple leaf motif in some fashion, have been created for use by Canadian officials, government bodies, and military forces. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Detail of a frog on a banknote

... that the 1754 Battle of the Frogs was commemorated on banknotes (detail pictured)?
... that as of 2019, inclusion in the International Register of Electors no longer requires residency in Canada in the preceding five years?
... that the United States Department of Defense ran a propaganda campaign against Chinese vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic?
... that Peewee Jarrett went from having a two-year span with no playing time and being "set on quitting football" to signing into the National Football League?
... that the Wellesbourne, Brighton's lost river, stopped flowing in 1889?
... that Max Weil, founder of the Halifax Symphony Orchestra, spent his later years in real estate?
... that when DarkZero contracted Xynew, his teammates highlighted his "communication skills and game brain", which they deemed unusual for a controller player?
... that the first public performance of the two songs of Arnold Schoenberg's Zwei Gesänge, Op. 1 was met with hostile audience reactions?
... that Score: A Hockey Musical has been described as "so Canadian it hurts"?

In the news

Virat Kohli

In cricket, the T20 World Cup concludes with India defeating South Africa in the final (player of the final Virat Kohli pictured).
In Bolivia, troops led by Juan José Zúñiga storm the presidential palace in an attempted coup.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is released from prison as part of a U.S. plea bargain.
Protesters attack the Parliament Buildings in Nairobi, Kenya, leaving 19 people dead and at least 160 others injured.

On this day

July 1: Eid al-Mubahalah (Shia Islam, 2024); Canada Day (1867)

Brown 10-centime Belgian epaulette

692 – Berhtwald was elected Archbishop of Canterbury.
1849 – Belgium introduced its first series of postage stamps, known as epaulettes (example pictured).
1862 – American Civil War: Confederate general Robert E. Lee launched a series of disjointed and ultimately unsuccessful assaults on the nearly impregnable Union position on Malvern Hill in Henrico County, Virginia.
1874 – The Remington No. 1, the first commercially successful typewriter, went on sale.
1999 – Legislative powers in Scotland were first devolved from the Scottish Office in London to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

John Early (b. 1814)
DeLancey W. Gill (b. 1859)
Tanya Savicheva (d. 1944)
Learie Constantine (d. 1971)

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Robert Downey Jr.

Many actors have appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's "Infinity Saga", part of a media franchise and shared fictional universe that is the setting of the first 23 superhero films produced by Marvel Studios, based on characters that appear in Marvel Comics publications. As the Saga is composed of films adapted from a variety of Marvel Comics properties, there are multiple lead actors, including Samuel L. Jackson, who portrayed Nick Fury, as well as Robert Downey Jr. (pictured), Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, and Scarlett Johansson, who played the original six members of the Avengers. Other actors who were leads in various films in the Saga include Chris Pratt, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, and Brie Larson, while Josh Brolin played Thanos, who was the overarching villain of the Saga. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Mundus Alter et Idem (Another World and Yet the Same) is a satirical dystopian novel written by the English writer and bishop Joseph Hall around 1605. In the novel, the narrator takes a voyage in the ship Fantasia through the southern seas, visiting the lands of Crapulia, Viraginia, Moronia, and Lavernia (populated by gluttons, nags, fools, and thieves, respectively). These locations feature on this map, which accompanies the novel.

Map credit: Joseph Hall

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