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Cross-section of the Mechanical Turk

The Mechanical Turk, also known as the "Automaton Chess Player" or "the Turk", was a chess-playing machine, first displayed in 1770, which appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess autonomously, but whose pieces were in reality moved via levers and magnets by a chess master hidden in the machine's lower cavity. The machine was toured and exhibited for 84 years as an automaton, and continued giving occasional exhibitions until 1854, when it was destroyed in a fire. In 1857, an article published by the owner's son revealed that it was an elaborate hoax, a fact suspected by some but never fully explained while the machine still existed. Constructed by Wolfgang von Kempelen to impress Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the Turk won most games, including those against statesmen such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin. The device demonstrated the knight's tour, a puzzle that requires a knight to visit every square of a chessboard once. (Full article...)

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Yellow 2291

... that American black bear Yellow 2291 (pictured) and her cubs are the first family of bears in decades to live in the Santa Monica Mountains?
... that the 13th-century Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua Mountains inspired many imitations over the following seven centuries?
... that during the siege of Jerusalem in the First Jewish Revolt, the Romans crucified prisoners in various positions to intimidate the defenders into surrender?
... that Abdelkader Lahmar was a high school economics teacher before being a candidate for the French Parliament?
... that according to the author of a key textbook on documentary editing, a bookstore erroneously assumed that it was related to documentary films instead of archival science?
... that a Thai film went viral in 2025 after viewers shared videos of themselves crying after watching it?
... that Bob Print had a reputation for "being an animal"?
... that the character Arlecchino in the game Genshin Impact was named after a stock character in Italian commedia dell'arte?
... that, to prove that the "mad king" George III was not actually mad, psychiatrist Ida Macalpine sought out his descendants' faeces?

In the news

Wang Fuk Court fire

An apartment complex fire (pictured) in Hong Kong leaves at least 128 people dead.
In Guinea-Bissau, armed forces seize power in a military coup, arresting President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and proclaiming Horta Inta-A Na Man as head of a transitional government.
Cyclone Senyar leaves more than 600 people dead across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.

On this day

November 30: Saint Andrew's Day (Christianity)

Damage from the 2018 Anchorage earthquake

1803 – An expedition led by Francisco Javier de Balmis departed A Coruña, Spain, with the aim of vaccinating millions in South America and Asia against smallpox.
1935 – A college football game between the SMU Mustangs and the TCU Horned Frogs became the first game in Texas to be broadcast nationally on radio.
1979 – The Wall, a rock opera and concept album by the English band Pink Floyd, was first released.
2005 – John Sentamu was enthroned as Archbishop of York, becoming the first black archbishop in the Church of England.
2018 – A magnitude-7.1 earthquake (aftermath pictured) hit Anchorage, Alaska, causing 117 injuries.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (b. 1825)
Eugenia Washington (d. 1900)
Henry Taube (b. 1915)
Shane MacGowan (d. 2023)

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Today's featured picture

Shirley Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician, educator, and author. In 1968 she became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, and she represented New York's 12th congressional district for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1972 she became the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for president of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. In 2015 Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This photograph shows Chisholm as she was announcing her candidacy for the presidency in 1972.

Photograph credit: Thomas J. O'Halloran; restored by Adam Cuerden

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