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From today's featured article

Donald Forrester Brown (23 February 1890 – 1 October 1916) was a New Zealand recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour in the face of the enemy that could be awarded at that time to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. Born in Dunedin, Brown was a farmer when the First World War began. In late 1915, he volunteered for service abroad with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) and was posted to the 2nd Battalion, the Otago Infantry Regiment. Fighting on the Western Front, he performed the actions that led to the award of the Victoria Cross in September 1916 during the Battle of Flers–Courcelette, part of the Somme offensive. As he was killed several days later during the Battle of Le Transloy, the award was made posthumously. His Victoria Cross was the second to be awarded to a soldier serving with the NZEF during the war and was the first earned in an action on the Western Front. (Full article...)

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Lambrini Girls

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... that during a 1989 visit to the United States, Boris Yeltsin said that "there would be a revolution" if the average Soviet citizen knew of the quality of grocery stores in the United States?
... that Nourah al-Qahtani was sentenced to 45 years in prison based on alleged social media activity?
... that the 1992 video game Otogirisō reinvigorated interest in adventure games in Japan?
... that from 1853 to 1855 the State Emigrant Refuge and Hospital on Wards Island in New York City was the largest hospital complex in the world?
... that Susan B. Anthony delivered her initial speeches advocating for women's rights at a quilting bee?

In the news

Relief of Thutmosis II at Karnak

Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II (relief pictured).
At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people.

On this day

February 23: The Emperor's Birthday in Japan (1960)

Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels

1725 – J. S. Bach first performed his Shepherd Cantata for the birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (pictured).
1854 – The Orange River Convention was signed in Bloemfontein, with the United Kingdom agreeing to recognise the independence of the Orange Free State in present-day South Africa.
1886 – American inventor Charles Martin Hall discovered an inexpensive method of producing aluminium.
1987 – SN 1987A, the first supernova that modern astronomers were able to study in great detail, was observed from Earth occurring in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
2021 – Riots in four Ecuadorian prisons, caused by gang rivalries, resulted in the deaths of 79 inmates.

al-Zafir (b. 1133)
Allan MacLeod Cormack (b. 1924)
Edward Elgar (d. 1934)
Shiena Nishizawa (b. 1997)

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Today's featured picture

The western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) is a medium-sized species of bird in the family Icteridae, the icterids. About 8.5 inches (22 centimetres) in length, it is found across western and central North America. It is a full migrant, breeding in Canada and the United States with resident populations also found in Mexico. The species has distinctive calls described as watery or flute-like, which distinguish it from the closely related eastern meadowlark. The western meadowlark is the state bird of six U.S. states: Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. This western meadowlark was photographed perching on a twig in Grasslands National Park, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Photograph credit: Simon Pierre Barrette

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