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From today's featured article

Left tibiotarsus in two views

The St. Croix macaw (Ara autocthones) is an extinct species of macaw whose remains have been found on the Caribbean islands of St. Croix and Puerto Rico. It was a medium-sized macaw of unknown coloration, slightly larger than the extinct Cuban macaw. It was described in 1937 based on a tibiotarsus leg bone (pictured) unearthed from a kitchen midden at a pre-Columbian site on St. Croix. A second specimen consisting of various bones from a similar site on Puerto Rico was described in 2008, and a coracoid from Montserrat may belong to this or another extinct species of macaw. The St. Croix macaw is one of 13 extinct macaw species that have been proposed to have lived on the Caribbean islands. Macaws were frequently transported for long distances by humans in both prehistoric and historic times, so it is impossible to know whether species only known from bones or written accounts were native or imported species. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

2b2t's destroyed spawn-in area

... that 2b2t, a no-rules Minecraft multiplayer server running since 2010, has seen more than 580,000 distinct Minecraft players join and explore its nine-terabyte map (pictured)?
... that the scholarship of Nyasha Junior on the life of Moses has been described as a starting point for how he can be viewed as a subject of feminist inquiry?
... that when iceberg A-38 calved from the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf in 1998, it carried a German research station with it?
... that Marion Hartog founded the first Jewish women's periodical in 1855?
... that the city flag of Columbus, Ohio, is undergoing a redesign process due to its heavy use of Christopher Columbus imagery?
... that a fire destroyed 70,000 Jōmon period artifacts found at the Ōfune Site?
... that after qualifying on the pole at a late-model stock car race, Ty Majeski chose to start at the rear for a chance to win more money—and won the race?
... that in The Cellist, a ballet about cellist Jacqueline du Pré, the cello is personified by a male dancer?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Portal

Martín Vizcarra

Manuel Merino becomes President of Peru after Martín Vizcarra (pictured) is impeached and removed from office.
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement to end the Nagorno-Karabakh war.
In cricket, the Indian Premier League concludes with Mumbai Indians defeating Delhi Capitals in the final.
In stock car racing, Chase Elliott wins the NASCAR Cup Series.

On this day

November 12: Diwali begins (2020)

Artist's impression of Rosetta with Philae

1928 – The British ocean liner SS Vestris sank in the western Atlantic Ocean with the loss of 111 lives.
1945 – Sudirman was elected the first commander-in-chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces.
1970 – The deadliest tropical cyclone in history made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan (Bangladesh), killing at least 250,000 people.
2014 – The European Space Agency lander Philae (artist's impression shown) touched down on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, becoming the first spacecraft to land on a comet.

Peter Martyr Vermigli (d. 1562)
Auguste Rodin (b. 1840)
Naomi Wolf (b. 1962)

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Today's featured picture

Portrait of Pablo de Valladolid is an oil-on-canvas painting dating from around 1635 by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez depicting Pablo, or "Pablillos" de Valladolid (1587–1648), a jester and actor at Philip IV's court. The subject is portrayed full-length and dressed in black, with the right arm flung out in a declamatory gesture. He is set against a neutral background, with no spatial reference to the point where the feet rest except that provided by the shadow cast by the body. The French painter Édouard Manet was amazed at this innovation when he saw the work. The painting is in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Painting credit: Diego Velázquez

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