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Tseax Cone is a small volcano in the Nass Ranges of the Hazelton Mountains in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It has an elevation of 609 metres (1,998 feet) and lies within an east–west valley through which a tributary of the Tseax River flows. The volcano consists of two nested structures and was the source of four lava flows that descended into neighbouring valleys. A secondary eruptive centre lies just north of Tseax Cone on the opposite side of Melita Lake. It probably formed simultaneously with Tseax Cone; both were formed by volcanic activity sometime in the last 800 years. The exact timing of volcanism at Tseax Cone has been a subject of controversy due to there being no direct written accounts. There is also controversy over whether the volcano was formed during one or more distinct episodes of eruptive activity. The single eruptive episode hypothesis has been proposed by researchers as early as 1923 whereas a multi-eruption hypothesis was proposed in 1978. (Full article...)

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On this day

January 3

Pope Leo X

1521 – Pope Leo X (depicted) issued the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, excommunicating Martin Luther for refusing to retract 41 alleged errors found in his 95 Theses and other writings.
1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the operational involvement of Winston Churchill, then Home Secretary.
1941 – Second World War: As part of Operation Compass, Australian and United Kingdom forces attacked Italian forces at the Battle of Bardia in Egypt.
1961 – All 25 people on board Aero Flight 311 died in Finland's worst civilian air accident when the aircraft crashed near Kvevlax.
1973 – CBS announced the sale of the New York Yankees professional baseball team to a group of investors headed by American businessman George Steinbrenner.

Angelo Emo (b. 1731)
Savitribai Phule (b. 1831)
Lynn Hill (b. 1961)
Robert Clark (d. 2013)

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Portrait of Charles Marcotte (also known as Marcotte d'Argenteuil) is an 1810 oil-on-canvas painting by the French Neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, completed during the artist's first stay in Rome. It depicts the eponymous Charles Marcotte (1773–1864), who was a long-term friend and supporter of Ingres and commissioned the work initially as a gift for his mother. Marcotte was 23 years old when the portrait was painted and serving as inspector general for waters and forests in Napoleonic Rome. In the painting, he stands against a plain grey-green background, leaning against a table draped with a red cloth. His stiff, starched white and yellow neck collar appears tight and restrictive. Marcotte did not like the final painting, finding it too stern, and it remained in his possession until his death. It is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., United States.

Painting credit: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

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