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SMS Bodrog in 1914

Sava was a river monitor, originally built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy as SMS Bodrog. She and two other monitors fired the first shots of World War I in the early hours of 29 July 1914, when they shelled Serbian defences near Belgrade. During the war, she fought the Serbian and Romanian armies, and was captured in its closing stages. She was transferred to the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), and renamed Sava. During the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she fought off several air attacks, but was scuttled on 11 April. Sava was later raised by the Axis puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, and continued to serve under that name until 1944 when she was again scuttled. Following World War II, Sava was raised again, and was refurbished to serve in the Yugoslav Navy from 1952 to 1962. She became a gravel barge after that, but was restored and opened as a floating museum in November 2021. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Adam Maraana

... that Adam Maraana (pictured), an Arab-Israeli, is competing in swimming for Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics?
... that future American presidential candidate George McGovern was a student pastor at a church in Diamond Lake, Illinois?
... that Stefano Manetti was co-consecrated a bishop by the same man who ordained him a priest 30 years earlier?
... that a law was signed so that the Solomon Islands delegation could return home from the 2020 Summer Olympics?
... that Page Ackerman was post librarian at the U.S. Army development site of the atomic bomb?
... that the first lady of the Ivory Coast created an animated kids show in 1989?
... that Olympic fencer Victor Alvares de Oliveira was told at a young age by doctors that he had little chance to compete in the sport due to his severe asthma?
... that the site of the headquarters of the German colonization of Texas was converted into a museum?
... that artifacts of Papua New Guinean art were called "living spirits with fixed abodes"?

In the news

Tadej Pogačar

Landslides kill at least 257 people in Geze Gofa, Ethiopia.
In cycling, Tadej Pogačar (pictured) wins the Tour de France.
Incumbent U.S. president Joe Biden withdraws from the 2024 presidential election.
In golf, Xander Schauffele wins the Open Championship.

On this day

July 29: Torch Festival in China (2024)

Cape Cod Canal

1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Byzantine forces defeated troops of the Bulgarian Empire at the Battle of Kleidion in the mountains of Belasica near present-day Klyuch.
1693 – Nine Years' War: French troops defeated the forces of the Grand Alliance led by William III of England at the Battle of Landen in present-day Neerwinden, Belgium.
1818 – French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel submitted a memoir on the diffraction of light to the Royal Academy of Sciences, providing strong support for the wave theory of light.
1914 – The Cape Cod Canal (pictured), connecting Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, opened on a limited basis.
1954 – The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J. R. R. Tolkien's high-fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, was published by Allen & Unwin.

Francisco Rodrigues da Cruz (b. 1859)
Isidor Isaac Rabi (b. 1898)
Jaojoby (b. 1955)
Virginia S. Baker (d. 1998)

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Eat Bulaga!, a Philippine television variety show that premiered on Radio Philippines Network on July 30, 1979, has won 58 awards from 129 nominations, with particular recognition for its hosting and acting. The longest-running variety show in the Philippines, it features a disparate set of segments. Eat Bulaga! initially featured Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, Chiqui Hollman, and Richie D'Horsie; the show's cast have changed significantly during its run. The show has won twenty-one Box Office Entertainment Awards. It has received twenty-one Golden Screen TV Award nominations (winning eleven) and seventy-nine for PMPC Star Awards for Television (winning twenty). Eat Bulaga! won Best Entertainment (One-Off/Annual) at the 2005 Asian Television Awards. At the 2015 FAMAS Awards, Tito, Vic, and de Leon won FAMAS Lifetime Achievement Award. (Full list...)

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The northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is a species of mockingbird, in the family Mimidae, commonly found in North America. The species is also found in some parts of the Caribbean, as well as on the Hawaiian Islands. It is typically a permanent resident across much of its range, but northern mockingbirds may move further south during inclement weather or prior to the onset of winter. The northern mockingbird has gray to brown upper feathers and a paler belly. Its tail and wings have white patches which are visible in flight. The species is known for its ability to mimic bird calls and other types of sound, including artificial and electronic noises. This northern mockingbird was photographed in Bay Ridge, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

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