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From today's featured article

Madonna in the Church (or The Virgin in the Church) is a small oil panel by the early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. Probably executed between c. 1438–40, it depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus in a Gothic cathedral. Mary is presented as Queen of Heaven wearing a jewel-studded crown, cradling a playful child Christ who gazes at her and grips the hem of her red dress in a manner that recalls the 13th-century Byzantine tradition of the Eleusa icon (Virgin of Tenderness). Tracery in the arch at the rear of the nave contains wooden carvings depicting episodes from Mary's life, while a faux bois sculpture in a niche shows her holding the child in a similar pose. Erwin Panofsky sees the painting composed as if the main figures in the panel are intended to be the sculptures come to life. (Full article...)

Did you know...

• ... that there were 31 ancient Egyptian dynasties?
• ... that Jupiter is considered a Substellar object?
• ... that the President of the US, the Supreme Court and Congress are three significant branches of the US Government?
• ... that there are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac?
• ... that the type fossil of the damselfly Electropodagrion consists only of a thorax, leg, and wing portions?
• ... that the name Zoroaster possibly means "he who manages camels"?
• ... that NuScale Power has designed a line of small, modular nuclear reactors?

In the news (from Infogalactic News)

• After Thousands Of Parents Refused To Comply Another CA School District Vax Mandate Falls
  Judge Ruled Schools Have No Authority To Mandate Medical Procedures For Children
• Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty of 5 Of 6 Charges
  Will She Be Epsteined?
• Aaron Rodgers: "If Science Can't Be Questioned, It's Not Science Anymore"
  "It's Propoganda"
  

• Jake Tapper's Producer Resigns From CNN
  Amid Pedo Scandal
• Israel Orders 100 Million Eggs Due To Bird Flu Outbreak
  Eggs And Hens Must Be Destroyed To Contain The Outbreak
• Twitter Suspends mRNA Tech Inventor Dr. Robert Malone
  Ran Counter To Covid Narrative
• Life Expectancy In 2020 Fell 2.3% To 77 Years
  Does This Justify The Covid Panic?
  

On this day...

December 26

• 1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington's funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
• 1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
• 1871 – Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.
• 1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.
• 1975 – Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, went into service.
• 2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.
• 2009 – China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.

• More anniversaries:
  • December 25
  • December 26
  • December 27

December 27

• 1512 – The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regard to native Indians in the New World.
• 1521 – The Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg disturbing the peace and preaching the Apocalypse. Philip Melanchthon cannot silence them. Martin Luther is being held in protective custody at the Wartburg castle at this time. He is later released and is able, by his preaching, to regain the peace.
• 1703 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.
• 1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.
• 1918 – The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
• 1945 – The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations.
• 1983 – Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square.

• More anniversaries:
  • December 26
  • December 27
  • December 28

• 1935 – Pravda publishes a letter by Pavel Postyshev, who revives New Year tree tradition in the Soviet Union.
• 1948 – The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 50 miles south of Miami.
• 1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 64 and 65 relating to Indonesia are adopted.
• 1958 – "Greatest Game Ever Played": Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium.
• 1978 – With the crew investigating a problem with the landing gear, United Airlines Flight 173 runs out of fuel and crashes in Portland, Oregon, killing ten. As a result, United Airlines instituted the industry's first crew resource management program.
• 1989 – A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.
• 2011 – Roboski airstrike: Turkish warplanes bomb 34 Kurds of Turkish nationality in the district of Uludere.

• More anniversaries:
  • December 27
  • December 28
  • December 29

Today's featured picture

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, commonly known as Auguste Renoir (US /rɛnˈwɑːr/ or UK /ˈrɛnwɑːr/; French: [pjɛʁ oɡyst ʁənwaʁ]; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919), was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty, and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau."

He was the father of actor Pierre Renoir (1885–1952), filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894–1979) and ceramic artist Claude Renoir (1901–69). He was the grandfather of the filmmaker Claude Renoir (1913–1993), son of Pierre. (Full article...)

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