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From today's featured article

Mariah Carey in 2023

"Forever" is a rock and roll and pop song recorded by American singer Mariah Carey (pictured) for her fifth studio album, Daydream (1995). Columbia Records released it to American radio stations for airplay on June 18, 1996, as the album's fifth single. The lyrics, by Carey, are about one's continued affection despite the end of a romantic relationship. She composed the music and produced the song with Walter Afanasieff. Described by critics as referencing American music of the 1950s and 1960s, "Forever" is a doo-wop-influenced sentimental ballad in the form of a waltz. Its composition includes keyboards, guitars, and programming. "Forever" reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart in the US and number 11 on the RPM Hit Tracks list in Canada. The single entered the bottom half of charts in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. Carey performed "Forever" during the 1996 Daydream World Tour. Her performance at the Tokyo Dome in Japan was released as the music video. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

The Wangdue Phodrang (Wangdi) Dzong

... that the Wangdue Phodrang Dzong (pictured) was destroyed by a fire in 1837, damaged by an earthquake in 1897 and destroyed again by a fire in 2012?
... that Bahu Begum gave up her nose ring with pearls for her husband's sovereignty?
... that facial dysmorphism and moderate intellectual disability are symptoms of 49,XXYYY syndrome?
... that Walt Whitman Park was the site of the first playground built on public parkland for children of U.S. government workers?
... that the original Trickcal: Chibi Go shut down only two hours after it was released?
... that in 2018, Alec Radford was the lead author on OpenAI's research paper on generative pre-trained transformers, which form the foundation of ChatGPT?
... that the Jay Chou album Children of the Sun was named after a note he got with a box of mangoes?
... that Jan Djong was fired from his post one day after his supporters held a demonstration in his support?
... that Take-Two Interactive filed a trademark claim against It Takes Two?

In the news

Jordan Staal

In ice hockey, the Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup (Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jordan Staal pictured).
In basketball, the New York Knicks defeat the San Antonio Spurs to win the NBA Finals.
Elon Musk becomes the world's first US-dollar trillionaire after his company SpaceX raises the largest initial public offering.
Princess Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand, a possible heir to the throne, dies at the age of 47 after a three-year comatose state.
English artist David Hockney dies at the age of 88.

On this day

June 18: Autistic Pride Day

Li Yuan

618 – Sui–Tang transition: Chinese governor Li Yuan (pictured) declared himself emperor, establishing the Tang dynasty.
1858 – Charles Darwin received a manuscript by fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace on natural selection, which encouraged him to publish his own theory of evolution.
1940 – World War II: Charles de Gaulle gave his Appeal of 18 June speech, often considered to be the origin of the French Resistance.
1953 – A Douglas C-124 Globemaster II aircraft crashed just after takeoff from Tachikawa, Japan, killing all 129 people on board.
2012 – Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was appointed the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

Lord Castlereagh (b. 1769)
James Montgomery Flagg (b. 1877)
Giorgio Morandi (d. 1964)
Richard Madden (b. 1986)

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Today's featured picture

Ravished Armenia, also known as Auction of Souls, is a 1919 American silent film directed by Oscar Apfel and based on the autobiographical book Ravished Armenia by Aurora Mardiganian, a survivor of the Armenian genocide. Mardiganian portrayed herself in the film, which depicts her experiences of deportation, persecution and enslavement during the genocide. Filmed in California, it used thousands of Armenians as extras, many of whom had survived similar events. The film was exhibited internationally and helped raise funds for Armenian and Syrian relief efforts. Long thought lost, it survives only in a 14- to 15-minute fragment rediscovered in Yerevan in 1994. This theatrical poster was produced at the time of Ravished Armenia's release in 1919. The poster features an illustration of a young woman being carried forcefully by a soldier, with a bloodied sword in his other hand.

Poster credit: Guenther, after Dan Smith

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