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Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), dubbed Typhoid Mary, was an Irish-born cook who lived in the US and is believed to have infected up to 57 people with the bacteria that cause typhoid fever, with three confirmed deaths. Between 1897 and 1907, Mallon worked at several homes; residents at four of them contracted typhoid. In 1907, she was forcibly quarantined at Riverside Hospital, but was freed in 1910, promising not to work as a cook. A further outbreak at the Sloane Maternity Hospital, where she was working, resulted in 25 cases and two deaths in early 1915. She was again confined, remaining so until her death in 1938. Her nickname became a term for anyone who spreads disease. Mallon's case raises questions about the balance between individual liberty and public health. No other carrier of typhoid was confined for as long as she was. Her story has been reevaluated, particularly during outbreaks of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and COVID-19. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Lotte Rakhat chocolate bar

... that amendments to Kazakhstan's law on state symbols raised concerns over changes to the packaging of one of Lotte Rakhat's most popular products (pictured)?
... that a promotion for the Jackie Robinson commemorative coins included a baseball card issued by the United States government?
... that "Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis", unlike almost all other known prokaryotes, spends its entire life cycle as a multicellular organism?
... that Leona E. Prasse's 1972 Feininger catalogue, which involved the help of the subject's widow, was called an improvement over a previous Feininger book from 1959?
... that the dinosaur that laid the eggs identified as Umbellaoolithus is unknown, but it ate plants?
... that only a shoe and a backpack were found after Makan Nasiri was killed in the 2026 Minab school attack?
... that a story in I Became the Main Role of a BL Drama was published as a script because there were not enough pages or time to include it as a full comic?
... that "Pistol Nell" earned her nickname by helping to thwart a bank robbery?
... that Billy Bragg ate Joe Hill's ashes?

In the news

Tilcayo

An attack on a police complex in Kohat, Pakistan, leaves at least 31 people dead.
The tilcayo (pictured), a new species of tiger cat, is formally identified.
Former leader of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi is sentenced to 25 years in prison for war crimes during his leadership of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
At the Primetime Emmy Awards, Widow's Bay wins Outstanding Comedy Series, and The Pitt wins Outstanding Drama Series.

On this day

September 23: Celebrate Bisexuality Day

U2 performing in Sarajevo

1803 – Maratha troops were defeated by forces of the British East India Company at the Battle of Assaye, one of the decisive battles of the Second Anglo-Maratha War.
1884 – The French steamship Arctique ran aground on the northern coast of Cape Virgenes in Argentina; gold was discovered during the rescue effort, triggering the Tierra del Fuego Gold Rush.
1983 – Flying from Pakistan, Gulf Air Flight 771 was blown up by the Abu Nidal Organization while on approach over the United Arab Emirates (UAE), killing all 112 people on board.
1997 – Irish rock band U2 performed in Sarajevo (pictured), the first major artist to hold a concert in the city since the end of the Bosnian War.
2016 – Following a number of high-profile sexual assaults, major reforms were enacted to strengthen laws related to rape in Germany.

Eleonora Gonzaga (b. 1598)
Émilie Gamelin (d. 1851)
Omar Ali Saifuddien III (b. 1914)
Ray Charles (b. 1930)

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From today's featured list

Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh

There are 117 constituencies of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, the unicameral legislature of Punjab, a state in North India. The seat of the Punjab Legislative Assembly is at Chandigarh, the state capital. It is housed within the Chandigarh Capitol Complex (building pictured), a World Heritage Site designed by Le Corbusier. The 117 members of the state legislative assembly are directly elected from single-seat constituencies and sit for a term of five years, unless it is dissolved early. Punjab is the nineteenth-largest state in India, and the fifteenth-most populous, with a population of 27.7 million in 2011. Thirty-four seats in the assembly are reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC), which have been given reservation status since Indian independence, guaranteeing them political representation. (Full list...)

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Today's featured video

The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a German animated fairy-tale film, written and directed by Lotte Reiniger, and released on 23 September 1926. Since two earlier Quirino Cristiani films are lost, it is the oldest surviving animated feature film. The plot is based on elements from several One Thousand and One Nights stories, such as "Aladdin," "Ahmed and Paribanou", and "The Ebony Horse". The film features a silhouette-animation technique that Reiniger invented by manipulating cardboard cutouts and thin sheets of lead under a camera, similar to wayang shadow puppets. The original prints featured color tinting. Reiniger also used the first form of a multiplane camera in making the film, one of the most important devices in pre-digital animation. Several famous avant-garde animators worked on Prince Achmed, among them Walter Ruttmann, Berthold Bartosch, and Carl Koch.

Film credit: Lotte Reiniger

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