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From today's featured article

Sesame Workshop logo

Sesame Workshop, originally the Children's Television Workshop, is the American non-profit organization behind the production of Sesame Street, now in its 47th consecutive season on the public broadcasting channel PBS. In 1966 Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett began researching a television show to help children, especially those from low-income families, prepare for school. Sesame Street premiered in 1969. Cooney credited "educational advisers, researchers, and television producers ... as equal partners" in the show's success. The early 1980s were a challenging period for the Workshop; the end of government funding, difficulty in finding audiences for their other productions, and a series of bad investments hurt the organization until 1985, when licensing agreements had stabilized revenues. The organization expanded into other areas, including books and music, international co-productions, outreach programs to preschools, and interactive media and new technologies. By 2005, income from international co-productions of the show was $96 million, and by 2008, the Sesame Street Muppets accounted for $15–17 million per year in licensing and merchandising fees. (Full article...)

Did you know...

Hot macaroni pie
Hot macaroni pie
  • ... that an American recipe from 1870 for macaroni pie (pictured) includes meat from squirrels, birds or wild ducks?
  • ... that Sword Art Online character Sinon's glasses were created as the authors felt there were not enough characters in the series with glasses?
  • ... that Jieyang Prison in Guangdong was the first prison in China to implement a video conferencing system for inmates and their family members?
  • ... that baseball player Ryan Boldt, who is naturally left-handed, taught himself to throw with his right arm after having surgery on his left arm at age 10?
  • ... that Mamluk Sultan Baibars built two bridges near the towns of Jindas and Yibna in the outskirts of Ramla, which have survived more than seven centuries?
  • ... that at the age of 18, Robin McCall became the youngest woman to qualify for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race?
  • ... that while adult red pumpkin beetles consume the leaves and flowers of the plant, their larvae eat the roots, stems and parts of the fruit in contact with the soil?
  • ... that Yang Hongying, whose books have sold more than 50 million copies, is known as "China's J. K. Rowling"?

In the news

EgyptAir SU-GCC in 2011
EgyptAir SU-GCC

On this day...

May 20: Day of Remembrance in Cambodia; National Day in Cameroon (1972); Independence Day in East Timor (2002); National Awakening Day in Indonesia (1908)

First edition of Shakespeare's sonnets
First edition of Shakespeare's sonnets

From today's featured list

Aishwarya Rai
Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai's acting career has encompassed work in over 40 films in five languages. Rai made her acting debut in the Tamil drama Iruvar (1997) and had her first Bollywood release in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997). She established herself in Bollywood with leading roles in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's romance Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and drama Devdas (2002), both of which earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Rai starred in the British film Bride and Prejudice in 2004, and collaborated with the director Rituparno Ghosh on the dramas Chokher Bali (2003) and Raincoat (2004). Her other high-profile credits include the action film Dhoom 2 (2006), the biopic Guru (2007), the historical drama Jodhaa Akbar (2008), the American comedy film The Pink Panther 2 (2009), and the science fiction film Enthiran (2010). Rai took a five-year sabbatical from film acting in 2010, and made her comeback with the thriller Jazbaa (2015). (Full list...)

Today's featured picture

Richard's pipit

The Richard's pipit (Anthus richardi) is a medium-sized passerine bird which breeds in open grasslands in northern Asia. It is a long-distance migrant moving to open lowlands in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Named after the French naturalist Monsieur Richard of Lunéville, this bird belongs to the pipit genus Anthus in the family Motacillidae. It was formerly lumped together with the Australasian, African, mountain and paddyfield pipits in a single species, though these pipits are now commonly considered to be separate species.

Photograph: JJ Harrison

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