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From today's featured article Hurricane Marty The 2003 Pacific hurricane season produced tropical cyclones that mainly affected Mexico. Hurricane Ignacio killed 2 people in Mexico and Marty killed 12; together they were responsible for damage worth about US$1 billion. Two other Pacific hurricanes, one Pacific tropical storm and three Atlantic storms also had a direct impact on Mexico. The only other significant storm of the season was Hurricane Jimena, which passed just to the south of the island of Hawaii, becoming the first storm in several years to directly threaten the island. The season officially started on May 15, 2003, in the eastern Pacific, and on June 1, 2003, in the central Pacific, lasting until November 30, 2003. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. There were 16 named storms, including 7 hurricanes; both totals are comparable with the long-term averages. This was the first Pacific hurricane season since 1977 with no major hurricanes, that is, storms Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. (Full article...) Recently featured: SECR K and SR K1 classes William Brill (RAAF officer) Blonde on Blonde Did you know... Thracian golden wreath ... that a golden wreath (pictured) found in 2005 in the tomb of a Thracian ruler in Southeastern Bulgaria was dated to the mid-4th century BC? ... that Nikolaus Hillebrand, who as a boy was a member of the Regensburger Domspatzen, recorded with them as a soloist on Bach's St John Passion in 1979 and Dittersdorf's Requiem in 2009? ... that a goal of the National Strategic Computing Initiative is to combine big data methods with supercomputing technology usually used for physical simulations? ... that the Indonesian actor Darussalam was a nurse by training? ... that the Psychopathic Personality Inventory examines eight personality traits commonly found in psychopaths? ... that Marianne Appel, a WPA post office muralist, was later a Muppet designer for The Jim Henson Company? ... that the 1899 Sewanee Tigers won five road games in six days, all by shutout over Southern college football powers? ... that a prostrate cultivar of the swamp she-oak was named for its resemblance to Cousin Itt?

In the news EgyptAir SU-GCC EgyptAir Flight 804 (aircraft pictured) disappears with 66 people on board over the Mediterranean en route from Paris to Cairo. The Vegetarian, written by Han Kang and translated by Deborah Smith, wins the Man Booker International Prize. Max Verstappen becomes the youngest driver to win a Formula One race by winning the Spanish Grand Prix at the age of 18. Jamala, representing Ukraine with the song "1944", wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is suspended after both houses of the National Congress vote to impeach her. Ongoing events Recent deaths: Dick McAuliffe Sammy Ellis Mike Agostini Susannah Mushatt Jones On this day... May 19: Greek Genocide Remembrance Day in Greece; Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day in Turkey; Ho Chi Minh's birthday in Vietnam John Franklin 1499 – Thirteen-year-old Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII of England, was married by proxy to his brother, 12-year-old Arthur, Prince of Wales. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison west of Montreal surrendered to British troops in the Battle of The Cedars. 1845 – Captain Sir John Franklin (pictured) and his ill-fated Arctic expedition departed from Greenhithe, England; the entire 129-man complement would be lost. 1911 – Parks Canada, the world's first national park service, was established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior. 1991 – With the local Serb population boycotting the polls, voters in Croatia passed a referendum supporting independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. More anniversaries: May 18 May 19 May 20

Today's featured picture The azimuthal equidistant projection is an azimuthal map projection in which all points on the map are both proportionately correct distances from the center point and at the correct azimuth (direction) from the center point. Distances and directions to all places, however, are true only from the center point of projection. This projection has been used for the flag of the United Nations, for the USGS National Atlas of the United States of America, and for large-scale mapping of Micronesia, among others. Map: Strebe, using Geocart Recently featured: Samyang 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Aspherical Charlie Murder STS-134

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