Tropical Storm Nicole (2010)

Tropical Storm Nicole (2010).
Tropical Storm Nicole was a short-lived and unusually asymmetric tropical cyclone that caused extensive flooding in Jamaica during the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the last of a record eight tropical storms to form in September. Originating from a broad monsoonal low, Nicole became a tropical depression over the northwestern Caribbean Sea on September 28. As it tracked northeastward, its wind circulation was poorly defined, and most of its strongest thundershowers were well removed from the center. In Jamaica, the storm triggered widespread power outages affecting more than 288,000 residences. Precipitation of up to 37.42 inches (950 mm) caused disastrous flooding in several parishes, severely damaging or destroying 528 houses. The island's farmland suffered from extensive water pollution. Nicole wrought an estimated US$245.4 million in damage throughout Jamaica, and there were sixteen fatalities.

Scientific Detective Monthly

Scientific Detective Monthly.
Scientific Detective Monthly was a pulp magazine published by Hugo Gernsback, first appearing in January 1930. It was intended to focus on detective and mystery stories with a scientific element, but there were also one or two science fiction stories in every issue. The title was changed to Amazing Detective Tales with the June 1930 issue, perhaps to avoid the word "scientific", which may have given readers the impression of "a sort of scientific periodical", in Gernsback's words, rather than a magazine intended to entertain. At the same time, the editor—Hector Grey—was replaced by David Lasser, who was already editing Gernsback's other science fiction magazines. The title change apparently did not make the magazine a success, and Gernsback closed it down in October after releasing 10 issues. He sold the title to publisher Wallace Bamber, who produced at least five more issues in 1931 under the title Amazing Detective Stories.

Pyramid of Unas

Pyramid of Unas.
The Pyramid of Unas is a smooth-sided pyramid built in the 24th century BC for the Egyptian pharaoh Unas, the ninth and final king of the Fifth Dynasty. Although Unas reigned for around 30 to 33 years, his pyramid is the smallest from the Old Kingdom. It was built between the complexes of Sekhemket and Djoser in North Saqqara. The pyramid's underground chambers remained unexplored until the Egyptologist Gaston Maspero gained entry in 1881. Inside, Pyramid Texts containing 283 spells for the king's afterlife were found incised into the walls of the subterranean chambers; they constitute the oldest and best-preserved corpus of religious writing from the Old Kingdom. Unas's pyramid is the oldest one in which these funerary texts have been found. Unlike the later Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead, the Pyramid Texts were reserved for pharaohs and were not illustrated. Their function was to guide the ruler into eternal life.

Green Park tube station

Green Park tube station.
Green Park is a London Underground station on the north side of Green Park, with entrances on both sides of Piccadilly. It is in fare zone 1 and is a busy interchange between the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines, used by over 39 million passengers in 2017. The station was opened on 15 December 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway and was originally named Dover Street. It was modernised in the 1930s when escalators replaced lifts and new entrances were provided on Piccadilly. The Victoria line platforms opened on 7 March 1969 and the Jubilee line platforms opened on 1 May 1979 with the official opening journeys by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles starting from this station. Improvements in the 2000s made the station wheelchair accessible throughout. The original station building designed by Leslie Green has been demolished. Decorative elements around the station include tiling schemes by Hans Unger and June Fraser and stonework by John Maine.

Pitta

Pitta.
Pittas (Pittidae) are a family of birds found in Asia, Australasia and Africa. There are around 40 to 42 species in 3 genera, Pitta, Erythropitta and Hydrornis, all similar in general appearance and habits. They are Old World suboscines, closely related to the broadbills. Pittas are medium-sized by passerine standards, at 15 to 25 cm (5.9–9.8 in) in length, and stocky, with strong, longish legs and long feet. They have very short tails and stout, slightly decurved bills. Many have brightly coloured plumage. Most pitta species are tropical, although a few species can be found in temperate climates. They are mostly found in forests, but some live in scrub and mangroves. They usually forage alone on wet forest floors in areas with good ground cover. They eat earthworms, snails, insects and similar invertebrate prey, as well as small vertebrates. The main threat to pittas is habitat loss in the form of rapid deforestation; they are also targeted by the cage-bird trade.

Jeremy Thorpe

Jeremy Thorpe.
Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party between 1967 and 1976. After graduating from Oxford University, he became one of the Liberals' brightest stars in the 1950s. As party leader, Thorpe capitalised on the growing unpopularity of the Conservative and Labour parties to lead the Liberals through a period of electoral success. This culminated in the general election of February 1974, when the party won 6 million votes. In May 1979 he was tried at the Old Bailey on charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder, arising from an earlier relationship with Norman Scott, a former model. Thorpe was acquitted on all charges, but the case, and the scandal, ended his political career. By the time of his death he was honoured for his record as an internationalist, a supporter of human rights, and an opponent of apartheid and all forms of racism.

Thomas Crisp

Thomas Crisp.
Skipper Thomas Crisp (28 April 1876 – 15 August 1917) was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross. A commercial fisherman operating from Lowestoft in Suffolk, England, Crisp joined the Royal Navy in 1915. He was killed in the North Sea defending his armed naval vessel, His Majesty's Smack Nelson, against an attack from a German submarine. The government used his self-sacrifice against long odds to bolster morale in the First World War during a difficult time for Britain, the summer and autumn of 1917, when the country was suffering heavy losses in the Battle of Passchendaele. His exploit was read aloud by David Lloyd George in the House of Commons and made headline news for nearly a week. After the war, a small display to his memory was set up in a Lowestoft library with parts of the sunken Nelson, which were dredged up years later, and a specially commissioned painting. This display was destroyed during the Second World War when the building was gutted in the Blitz.