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From today's featured article Dream of the Rarebit Fiend was a newspaper comic strip by American cartoonist Winsor McCay, begun September 10, 1904, that depicted fantastic bizarre dreams. It was McCay's second successful strip, after Little Sammy Sneeze secured him a position on the cartoon staff of the New York Herald. Rarebit Fiend was printed in the Evening Telegram, a newspaper published by the Herald. The strip had no continuity or recurring characters. Instead, it had a recurring theme: a character would have a nightmare or other bizarre dream, usually after eating a Welsh rarebit—a cheese-on-toast dish. The dreams often revealed unflattering sides of the dreamers' psyches—their phobias, hypocrisies, discomforts, and dark fantasies. The strip is mostly recognized as an adult-oriented precursor to McCay's signature strip, Little Nemo. The popularity of Rarebit Fiend and Nemo led to a job with William Randolph Hearst's chain of newspapers with a star's salary. Many characters from the strip, such as giant monsters laying waste to cities, anticipated later fiction and films, including King Kong and Godzilla. (Full article...) Recently featured: Percheron Master of Puppets Battle of Agua Dulce Did you know... Ivory burning in the Republic of Congo ... that the destruction of ivory (pictured) has been called "indispensable in the fight against trafficking of threatened species"? ... that Adam Frazier has set baseball records for the Mississippi State Bulldogs? ... that "Un-American Graffiti" is the first episode of Veronica Mars not to feature a mystery that takes place over several episodes? ... that the slender knotweed is eaten by people in Africa in times of famine? ... that Canada's status as a bilingual country inspired Janet Werker to study language acquisition? ... that, as well as shooting at Pinewood Studios and on Skellig Michael, additional filming for Star Wars: Episode VIII will take place in Mexico? ... that the contralto Elisabeth Schärtel, known for performing many Wagner parts at the Bayreuth Festival, sang Verdi's Meg Page alongside Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Falstaff? ... that when Naborr, an Arabian stallion, was imported to America via ship in 1963, the ship ran low on hay and the horse lost 50 pounds (23 kg)?

In the news Whitfield Diffie In the Irish general election, the ruling Fine Gael–Labour coalition loses its majority and over a third of its vote, but Fine Gael narrowly remains the largest party. Whitfield Diffie (pictured) and Martin Hellman win the Turing Award for introducing the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures. Mad Max: Fury Road wins six awards and Spotlight wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Thirty-six people are killed in a series of explosions in a coal mine near Vorkuta, Russia. The Jamaica Labour Party, led by Andrew Holness, wins a narrow majority in the Jamaican general election. Ongoing events: Zika virus outbreak European migrant crisis Recent deaths: Martin Crowe George Kennedy On this day... March 5: Learn From Lei Feng Day in China; St Piran's Day in Cornwall, United Kingdom Supermarine Spitfire 1279 – The Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order suffered a great loss when 71 knights died in the Battle of Aizkraukle. 1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, describing his heliocentric theory of the Solar System, was prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church. 1811 – Peninsular War: In the Battle of Barrosa, an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese force trying to lift the Siege of Cádiz was able to defeat a French attack, although they were ultimately unable to break the siege itself. 1936 – The prototype of the Supermarine Spitfire (pictured), a British single-seat fighter that was later used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries during the Second World War, flew for the first time. 1966 – BOAC Flight 911 disintegrated and crashed near Mount Fuji shortly after departure from Tokyo International Airport, killing all 113 passengers and 11 crew members on board. More anniversaries: March 4 March 5 March 6

Today's featured picture Evening Snow on the Heater, a mid-18th century ukiyo-e print by Japanese artist Suzuki Harunobu (1725–70), displays Harunobu's mastery of the then-new polychromatic nishiki-e (or "brocade") print, as well as luxurious techniques such as extensive embossing. Painting: Suzuki Harunobu Recently featured: Jupiter North Carolina pound Mute swan

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