From today's featured article
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The nuckelavee is a horse-like demon from Orcadian mythology that combines equine and human elements. The name of this most horrible of all the demons of the Scottish islands may be a progenitor of that by which the Devil is sometimes known, Old Nick. Though accounts describing the creature's appearance are inconsistent, its abilities are well-documented. The nuckelavee's breath can wilt crops and sicken livestock, and the creature has been held responsible for droughts and epidemics on land despite its being predominantly a sea-dweller. In common with many other sea monsters, it is unable to tolerate fresh water; therefore, those it is pursuing have only to cross a river or stream to be rid of it. The nuckelavee is kept in confinement during the summer months by the Mither o' the Sea, an ancient Orcadian divine and the only one able to control it. This mythological creature may have originated as a composite of a water horse from Celtic mythology and a creature imported by Norsemen. (Full article...)
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Did you know...
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- ... that Sara W. Combs, the first woman to sit on the Kentucky Supreme Court, held her seat for less than four months before losing it in a special election to another woman?
- ... that after the ancient Chinese state of Zhoulai was conquered in 529 BC, its territory was ruled by three different states in the ensuing decades?
- ... that when Elida Campodónico attempted to get an identity card to vote, she was told, "In Panama there are no women citizens, only male citizens"?
- ... that antlions, which are found over most of the European continent, are extremely rare in Great Britain and only known to breed in two areas across East Anglia?
- ... that Bai Jinian was China's first provincial party chief elected by secret ballot, but was forced out of office three years later?
- ... that while Benjamin Disraeli wrote of Charles Auchester that "No greater book will ever be written on music", the critic Henry Chorley thought it "half-crazy"?
- ... that despite admitting to necrophilia, Karen Greenlee only spent 11 days in jail for theft of a hearse and interfering with a funeral?
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In the news
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Flydubai Boeing 737-800 which crashed
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On this day...
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March 23: Fast of Esther (Judaism, 2016); Holi (Hinduism, 2016); Pakistan Day (1956); Day of Hungarian–Polish Friendship in Hungary and Poland
Bhagat Singh
- 1775 – American Revolution: Patrick Henry made his "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech to the House of Burgesses of Virginia, urging military action against the British Empire.
- 1848 – Scottish settlers on the John Wickliffe, captained by William Cargill, arrived at what is now Port Chalmers in the Otago Region of New Zealand.
- 1888 – Led by William McGregor, ten football clubs met in London for the purpose of founding The Football League, the oldest league competition in world football.
- 1931 – Bhagat Singh (pictured), one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement, and two others were executed by British authorities.
- 1991 – The Sierra Leone Civil War began when the Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invaded Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh.
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