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From today's featured article

The Snow Queen is a 2000 young-adult fantasy novel by the Canadian writer Eileen Kernaghan. It follows Gerda, a young Danish woman who sets out to rescue her childhood friend Kai from Madame Aurore, a magician known as the Snow Queen. She is joined on her journey by Ritva, a young Sámi woman born to a shamaness and a robber. The novel is based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" (1844), but incorporates elements of Scandinavian shamanism and influences from the Kalevala (1835), a compilation of Finnish mythology and epic poetry. It also explores feminist and matriarchal themes, reinterpreting several plot elements from Andersen's original with contemporary shifts against the background of the imaginative geography of Arctic landscapes. The Snow Queen was published by Thistledown Press and received positive reviews. It received the Aurora Award for Best Novel in 2001 and was considered for two other accolades. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer

... that Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (pictured) is one of the most valuable paintings ever sold at auction?
... that the Dukiełka stream in southeastern Poland supplied water to a 19th-century brewery?
... that Isamu Noguchi designed Akari light sculptures because a Japanese mayor asked him to revitalize the dying paper-lantern industry?
... that Stephen King's fans find similarities between one of his antagonists and a real-life killer nurse?
... that the freighters James H. Reed and Frank E. Vigor sank in separate collisions on Lake Erie on the same day?
... that "Yelabuga Nail", an unfinished song by Dmitri Shostakovich from 1971, was not premiered until 2025?
... that Baker's Horse mustered for service with British forces within a few weeks, in response to the Zulu victory at the Battle of Isandlwana?
... that Burmese poet Ko Lay Inwa Gonyi, later a winner of the Lifetime Award for Myanmar Literature, was restricted from publishing for 45 years under the military government?
... that people sometimes experience short-term memory loss when they walk through doorways or switch tasks?

In the news

Faustin-Archange Touadéra

Following a Saudi-led offensive, Yemeni government forces take control of Aden, the capital of the Southern Transitional Council.
Faustin-Archange Touadéra (pictured) is re-elected as the president of the Central African Republic.
Delcy Rodríguez is sworn in as the interim president of Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro during United States strikes on the capital.
Luke Littler wins the PDC World Darts Championship.

On this day

January 14: Ratification Day in the United States (1784)

Map of the fort of Malacca

1641 – Dutch–Portuguese War: The Dutch siege of Malacca against the Portuguese ended when Dutch troops seized the city's citadel (depicted).
1907 – An earthquake registering 6.2 M_w struck Kingston, Jamaica, resulting in approximately 1,000 deaths.
1966 – Vietnam War: United States and Australian troops ended Operation Crimp; during the military operation, troops discovered an extensive tunnel network used by the Viet Cong.
1978 – Austrian logician Kurt Gödel, who suffered from an obsessive fear of being poisoned, died of starvation after his wife was hospitalized and unable to cook for him.
2011 – Arab Spring: Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country after several violent protests.

Evander Berry Wall (b. 1861)
James P. Hagerstrom (b. 1921)
Caterina Valente (b. 1931)
Alan Rickman (d. 2016)

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From today's featured list

Green Bay Packers logo

The Green Bay Packers participated in 35 drafts of players between 1936 and 1969. The Packers have competed in the National Football League (NFL) since 1921, two years after their original founding. The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", is an annual event that serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings. The Packers participated in the league's initial draft in 1936, as well as every year since then, and additionally took part in the 1950 All-America Football Conference dispersal draft when that league merged with the NFL. Twelve of the players drafted by the Packers between 1936 and 1969 have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Eleven of these players, along with 33 other Packers draftees, have been inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. (This list is part of a featured topic: Green Bay Packers draft history.)

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Today's featured picture

The rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus) is a bird species in the family Meropidae, the bee-eaters. It is found during the summer in forested areas in most of southern Australia, excluding Tasmania, migrating to the north of the country as well as New Guinea and some of the southern islands of Indonesia in the winter. It inhabits open woodlands, beaches, dunes, cliffs, mangroves, and farmlands, and visits parks and private gardens. The rainbow bee-eater is a brilliantly coloured bird that grows between 23 and 28 centimetres (9.1 and 11.0 in) in length, including the elongated tail feathers, with a weight of 20 to 33 grams (0.71 to 1.16 oz). Its diet consists mostly of flying insects and especially bees, as implied by its name. Like all bee-eaters, it is a social bird; when not breeding, individuals roost together in large groups. This rainbow bee-eater perching on a twig was photographed in the Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve near Middle Point in the Northern Territory, Australia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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