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Ali MacGraw

The Getaway is a 1972 American action thriller film based on the 1958 novel by Jim Thompson. The film was directed by Sam Peckinpah, written by Walter Hill, and stars Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw (pictured), Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, and Sally Struthers. The plot follows imprisoned mastermind robber Carter "Doc" McCoy, whose wife Carol conspires for his release on the condition they rob a bank in Texas. A double-cross follows the crime, and the McCoys are forced to flee for Mexico with the police and criminals in hot pursuit. The Getaway premiered on December 19, 1972. Despite the negative reviews it received upon release, numerous retrospective critics give the film good reviews. A box-office hit earning more than $36 million, it was the eighth highest-grossing film of 1972, and one of the most financially successful productions of Peckinpah's and McQueen's careers. A film remake starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger was released in 1994. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Lobster emoji

... that a U.S. senator advocated for the lobster emoji (pictured)?
... that Irina Voronina was once painted blue and orange for a nude photoshoot?
... that, under O'Donoghue v. United States, Washington, D.C.'s courts are the only tribunals in the United States that might be both constitutional and legislative courts at the same time?
... that Alek Skarlatos, who helped foil a terrorist attack in 2015, became a member of the Oregon House of Representatives nearly a decade later?
... that a cartel was formed to purchase papyri for the Berlin Papyrus Collection?
... that British physiotherapist Jane Madders developed relaxation training for pregnant women and migraine patients?
... that the architecture of a city in Genshin Impact was influenced by an ancient town in the province of Hunan?
... that dockworkers constructed makeshift barricades out of large rolls of paper during the July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona?
... that several Internet memes, including "is this Battletoads?" and the NPC Wojak, originated from the 4chan imageboard /v/?

In the news

Fatafehi Fakafānua

Fatafehi Fakafānua (pictured) is elected prime minister by the legislative assembly of Tonga.
Filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, are found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home.
José Antonio Kast is elected president of Chile.
Sixteen people, including a gunman, are killed in a mass shooting attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

On this day

December 19

Henry II

1154 – Henry II (depicted) was crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey, London.
1964 – The ruling junta of South Vietnam, led by Nguyễn Khánh, initiated a coup, dissolving the High National Council, a civilian advisory body.
1984 – China and the United Kingdom signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997.
1985 – Aeroflot Flight 101/435 was hijacked by the co-pilot and landed in a cow pasture in China, where he was apprehended.
1997 – Titanic, the third-highest-grossing film of all time, with a worldwide total of more than US$1.8 billion, was released in the United States.

Pope Urban V (d. 1370)
Mary Livermore (b. 1820)
Mileva Marić (b. 1875)
Phil Ochs (b. 1940)

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Natalie Wood

American actress Natalie Wood started her career as a child by appearing in films directed by Irving Pichel. Wood's first credited role was as an Austrian war refugee in the Pichel-directed Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) with Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles. The following year, she played a child who does not believe in Santa Claus in the Christmas comedy-drama Miracle on 34th Street (1947). In 1955, she starred as a recalcitrant teenager in Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and received the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Female. In 1961, Wood starred as a teenager struggling with sexual repression in the period drama Splendor in the Grass with Warren Beatty, and as Maria in the highly successful musical film West Side Story. She followed West Side Story with another musical film, Gypsy (1962), in which she played the title role of the burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Pontia edusa, commonly known as the eastern Bath white, is a species of butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found from the southwest of Europe (southern France, Italy, Corsica, Sardinia) up to central Europe, and in the Middle East in Iran and Iraq. It is a migrant that can also be encountered in Belgium, the Netherlands, northern Germany and Poland, in the Baltic states, and in southern Sweden and Norway. The species inhabits open grassy or flowery areas, in stony or rocky places and in roadsides, at altitudes up to 1,500 metres (4,900 feet) and occasionally higher. Pontia edusa is a small to medium-sized migrant butterfly, with a wingspan reaching about 45 millimetres (1.8 inches). The upperside of its wings is white, with black stains on the top of the forewing and hindwing, while the hindwing underside has greenish-grey spots. Pontia edusa is nearly identical to P. daplidice; it is generally only possible to distinguish the two through genital inspection or DNA analysis. This P. edusa butterfly, displaying its greenish-grey underside, was photographed in Učka Nature Park in Istria, Croatia. The photograph was focus-stacked from four separate images.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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