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Cucurbita (Latin for gourd) is a genus of vines in the gourd family, native to the Andes and Mesoamerica. Five species are grown worldwide, variously known as squash, pumpkin, or gourd depending on species, variety, and local parlance. The fruits have played a role in human culture for at least 2,000 years. First cultivated in the Americas before being brought to Europe by returning explorers, the plants remain an important food source. Most Cucurbita species are herbaceous vines that grow several meters in length and have tendrils, but bush cultivars of C. pepo and C. maxima have also been developed. Many North and Central American species are visited by honey bees, as well as specialist bees that pollinate only a single species. Most of the domesticated species can be considered winter squash, since the full-grown fruits can be stored for months. Their extracts have many uses, including in cosmetics. The fruits are also good sources of vitamins and minerals. (Full article...)

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Selected anniversaries

October 28

Flight spare of Prospero

1707 – The Hōei earthquake ruptured all segments of the Nankai megathrust simultaneously – the only earthquake recorded to have done so.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: As George Washington's Continental Army retreated northward from New York City, the British Army captured the village of White Plains.
1928 – Indonesian composer Wage Rudolf Supratman introduced "Indonesia Raya", now the country's national anthem.
1971 – Prospero (flight spare pictured), the first British satellite launched on a British rocket, lifted off from Launch Area 5B in Woomera, South Australia.
1992 – Hans-Adam II threatened to dismiss the Landtag of Liechtenstein over disagreements on the date of a referendum for the country's accession to the EEA.
2013 – The first terrorist attack in Beijing's recent history took place when members of the Turkistan Islamic Party drove a vehicle into a crowd, killing five people and injuring thirty-eight others.

Ibas of Edessa (d. 457)
Johann Karl August Musäus (d. 1787)
Bill Gates (b. 1955)
Lucy Bronze (b. 1991)

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In the news

Tropical Storm Trami

Tropical Storm Trami (satellite image shown) leaves more than 120 people dead in the Philippines.
An attack by the Kurdistan Workers' Party on the Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters in Ankara leaves seven people dead.
Moldova votes to amend its constitution to include the aim of becoming a European Union member state.
Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, is killed in a firefight with Israeli forces in Gaza.

Did you know...

Viriamo

... that the traditional Rapa Nui tattoos of Viriamo (pictured) included motifs similar to an adze and a paddle?
... that in the Littlehampton libels, Edith Swan fooled three juries and two judges, had another woman sent to prison twice, and was declared not guilty before finally being convicted?
... that Filomena Fortes once said that she was "a bit critical of top-level sports in Cape Verde" despite being the president of its National Olympic Committee?
... that on the same day that the members of Heaven's Gate died in a mass suicide, five members of an unrelated group did likewise?
... that American stage actress Verna Mersereau performed her traditional classical dances before royalty in Calcutta?
... that the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival canceled the screening of a politically themed film due to the "inability to locate suitable copies", despite the film having been showcased three years earlier?
... that the owners of Jumbo's claimed it became the first white-owned restaurant in Miami to serve and employ black people in the late 1960s?
... that Gerda Philipsborn, a German woman, dedicated her life to the development of Jamia Millia Islamia, a national university in New Delhi?
... that one 1886 night 150 people broke into a courthouse and began moving it 15 miles (24 km), before getting stuck in a blizzard?

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Picture of the day

Le roi d'Ys is an opera in three acts by the French composer Édouard Lalo, to a libretto by Édouard Blau. It is based on the old Breton legend of the drowned city of Ys, which was according to the legend the capital of the kingdom of Cornouaille. The opera includes a noteworthy aubade for tenor in act 3, titled "Vainement, ma bien-aimée" (In vain, my beloved). Le roi d'Ys premiered on 7 May 1888 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, in a production by the Opéra-Comique. Within France, the opera was regarded as Lalo's most recognized work. This poster was produced by Auguste François-Marie Gorguet for the 1888 premiere of Le roi d'Ys, and depicts the final scene of the opera.Poster credit: Auguste François-Marie Gorguet; restored by Adam Cuerden

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