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Ichiko Aoba

Windswept Adan is the seventh studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ichiko Aoba (pictured), released on 2 December 2020 by her label, Hermine. The concept album follows the story of a young girl who is sent away by her family to the fictional island of Adan. Aoba and composer Taro Umebayashi wrote, composed, arranged, and produced the music for the album, which was preceded by one single, "Porcelain". Windswept Adan is a chamber folk and psychedelic folk album with elements of jazz, classical, and ambient music. Marking a departure from Aoba's earlier minimalist instrumentation, it includes a celesta, wind chimes, string arrangements, and vocal performances. The album received widespread critical acclaim for its arrangements, instrumentation, and worldbuilding. Upon its release, the album debuted at number 82 on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart and number 88 on the Oricon Albums Chart. Aoba supported the album with her first international tour between August and October 2022. (Full article...)

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Zooming In on the Andromeda Galaxy

... that more than one hundred million stars are visible in Zooming In on the Andromeda Galaxy (pictured)?
... that Karen Tei Yamashita realized the structure of her novel, I Hotel, by cutting, folding, and writing on ten cardboard cubes, each representing a year in the book?
... that Carrlyn Bathe met her husband after he sent her gear from his clothing brand?
... that due to the near-miss effect, gamblers may mistake a game of luck for a game of skill?
... that tacklers "bounced off" Chauncey Archiquette "as if he were a brick wall"?
... that the author of the comic book Timeless Voyage was the leader of a UFO religion?
... that Chief Constable James Smart flooded police courts with over 17,000 cases to prove how impractical it was for home owners to light their own stairs?
... that an Indiana university argued in court that The Silver Veil and the Golden Gate, a 1914 painting, was too modern for their art collection in 2024?
... that Piri Reis did not map Antarctica in the sixteenth century?

In the news

Thierry Neuville

Syrian opposition forces enter Aleppo in the first offensive since the 2020 ceasefire.
Israel and Lebanon agree to a 60-day ceasefire to halt the current hostilities.
In motorsport, Thierry Neuville (pictured) and Martijn Wydaeghe win the World Rally Championship.
In Formula One, Max Verstappen wins the World Championship.

On this day

December 2

Benazir Bhutto

1899 – Philippine–American War: A 60-man Filipino rearguard was defeated at the Battle of Tirad Pass, but delayed the American advance long enough to ensure President Emilio Aguinaldo's escape.
1943 – World War II: The Luftwaffe conducted a surprise air raid on Allied ships in Bari, Italy, sinking twenty-eight vessels and releasing one ship's secret cargo of mustard gas.
1956 – Cuban Revolution: The yacht Granma, carrying Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement, reached the shores of Cuba.
1988 – Benazir Bhutto (pictured) took office as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of a Muslim-majority state.
2001 – Less than two months after disclosing accounting violations, the Texas-based energy firm Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, evaporating nearly $11 billion in shareholder wealth.

John Breckinridge (b. 1760)
William Burges (b. 1827)
Aaron Copland (d. 1990)
Shyam Swarup Agarwal (d. 2013)

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Shikishima firing during the Battle of the Yellow Sea

Between the 1890s and 1940s, the Imperial Japanese Navy built a series of battleships as it expanded its fleet. Previously, the Empire of Japan had acquired a few ironclad warships from foreign builders, although it had adopted the Jeune École naval doctrine which emphasized cheap torpedo boats and commerce raiding to offset expensive, heavily armored ships. Combat experience in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 convinced the Imperial Japanese Navy that its doctrine was untenable, leading to a ten-year naval construction program that called for a total of six battleships and six armored cruisers (the Six-Six Fleet). To counter reinforcement of the Russian Empire's Pacific Squadron as tensions rose between the Russians and the Japanese over control of Korea and Manchuria in the early 1900s, Japan ordered the two battleships of the Katori class in 1903. (Full list...)

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The Book of Fixed Stars (Arabic: كتاب صور الكواكب kitāb suwar al-kawākib, literally The Book of the Shapes of Stars) is an astronomical text written by Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Azophi) around 964. Following the Graeco-Arabic translation movement in the 9th century AD, the book was written in Arabic, the common language for scholars across the vast Islamic territories, although the author himself was Persian. It was an attempt to create a synthesis of the comprehensive star catalogue in Ptolemy's Almagest (books VII and VIII) with the indigenous Arabic astronomical traditions on the constellations (notably the Arabic constellation system of the Anwā'). The original manuscript no longer survives as an autograph, however, the Book of Stars has survived in later-made copies. This image from the book shows the constellation of Orion, in mirror image as if on a celestial globe, and is from a copy in the Bodleian Library dated to the 12th century AD.

Ilustration credit: Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi

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