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From today's featured article

Tara Lipinski (born 1982) is an American former competitive figure skater, actress, sports commentator, and documentary film producer. A former competitor in women's singles, she was the 1998 Olympic champion, the 1997 world champion, a two-time Champions Series Final champion (1997–1998), and the 1997 U.S. national champion. Until 2019, she was the youngest single skater to win a U.S. Nationals and the youngest to become an Olympic and world champion. She was the first woman to complete a triple loop–triple loop combination, her signature jump element, in competition. Starting in 1997, Lipinski had a rivalry with fellow skater Michelle Kwan, which was played up by the American press, and culminated when Lipinski won the gold medal at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. She retired from competitive figure skating in 1998. Lipinski became one of NBC's primary figure skating commentators in 2014, alongside sports commentator Terry Gannon and fellow figure skater and good friend Johnny Weir. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Rolling-shutter photograph of a spinning airplane propeller

... that a photograph of an airplane propeller taken by a camera with a rolling shutter (pictured) may distort the propeller into curves resembling the quadratrix of Hippias?
... that the remains of at least 970 people were discovered at the former Kilkenny Union Workhouse?
... that 17-year-old video game developers Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin obtained a contract with Electronic Arts by cold-calling them and sending them a copy of Dream Zone?
... that a baby elephant that starred in The Ark was kept in a van outside the director's home the night before filming?
... that Welsh-language activist Joseff Gnagbo came to Wales as a refugee from Ivory Coast?
... that the Fadettes of Boston was named after the titular character of George Sand's novel La Petite Fadette?
... that zoologist Evelyn Shaw also worked in the catering industry alongside her husband?
... that the Atlanta Central Library, Marcel Breuer's last completed design, was nearly demolished less than three decades after completion?
... that an Alabama TV station deemed "The Puppy Episode" unsuitable for family viewing?

In the news

Laura Fernández Delgado

Laura Fernández Delgado (pictured) is elected as the president of Costa Rica.
Clashes between the Balochistan Liberation Army and the armed forces in several districts of Balochistan, Pakistan, leave at least 225 people dead.
The US Department of Justice releases over three million documents detailing the criminal activities of financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Over 400 people are killed in a mine collapse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On this day

February 6: Sámi National Day (1917); Waitangi Day in New Zealand (1840)

Battle of San Domingo

1778 – France and the United States signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance, respectively establishing commercial and military ties between the two nations.
1806 – Napoleonic Wars: A British naval squadron captured or destroyed five French ships of the line at the Battle of San Domingo (pictured) in the Caribbean Sea.
1918 – Conscientious objector Henry Firth died in a work camp on Dartmoor, England, triggering a strike over living conditions.
1951 – A train derailed while crossing a temporary wooden trestle in Woodbridge, New Jersey, causing 85 deaths.
1976 – Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admitted that the company had paid out approximately US$3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka.

Pierre André Latreille (d. 1833)
Maria Mies (b. 1931)
Juan Sartori (b. 1981)
Gary Moore (d. 2011)

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From today's featured list

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada won a record five Olympic medals.

There have been 286 medals awarded to figure skaters representing 29 National Olympic Committees at the Winter Olympic Games from 1908 to 2022. There are currently five figure skating events held at the Olympics: men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, ice dance, and the team event. Gillis Grafström of Sweden has won four Olympic medals in the men’s event; Sonja Henie of Norway has won three Olympic medals in the women’s event; Artur Dmitriev of Russia, Irina Rodnina of the Soviet Union, and Andrée and Pierre Brunet of France have each won three Olympic medals in the pairs event; and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (both pictured) of Canada have won three Olympic medals in the ice dance event. The figure skating events at the 2026 Winter Olympics are scheduled to be held at the Forum di Milano in Milan, Italy, between 6 and 19 February. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Luge is a winter sport that involves a one- or two-person sled, also known as a luge, on which athletes sled supine (face-up) and feet-first. Lugers control the movement of the sled by shifting their weight or applying pressure with their calf muscles and shoulders, and can reach speeds of more than 140 km/h (87 mph; 39 m/s). The sport is organised by the International Luge Federation and has been part of the Winter Olympic programme since 1964. This photograph shows the Ukrainian brothers Myroslav and Ivan Lenko training in 2022 in Mariazell, Austria, for the Luge World Cup.

Photograph credit: Steffen Prößdorf

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