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Track and intensity of Tropical Storm Carlotta

Tropical Storm Carlotta was a tropical cyclone that caused flooding in several states in southwestern and central Mexico. The system strengthened into a tropical storm on June 15, 2018. It reached peak intensity two days later with reported maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 997 millibars (29.44 inHg) when it was only 30 mi (50 km) south-southeast of Acapulco. Interaction with the land and wind shear weakened the storm to a tropical depression later in the day, and on June 19 the storm dissipated. Carlotta prompted the issuance of watches and warnings for the southern coast of Mexico. The storm caused three deaths, two in Aguascalientes and the other in Oaxaca. Flooding and landslides also occurred throughout the states of Aguascalientes, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, and Puebla, as well as in the Yucatán Peninsula. Damage from the system was reported to be minor. (Full article...)

1873 cartoon ridiculing the Salary Grab Act

• ... that until the Salary Grab Act (cartoon pictured) was passed in 1873, President Ulysses S. Grant earned the same salary as George Washington did 80 years earlier?
• ... that Zhang Changshou co-led a Sino-American archaeological project investigating sites that were sometimes buried under more than 10 meters (33 ft) of alluvium?
• ... that "The Night We Met", a song by indie-folk band Lord Huron, was certified two-times platinum nearly two years after its initial release?
• ... that prior to becoming Google India's manager, Sanjay Gupta was credited for expanding Star India's sports business by launching Pro Kabaddi League and Indian Super League?
• ... that the copepod Mesocyclops longisetus can be used in the biological control of mosquitoes?
• ... that Egyptian radiologist Sahar Saleem has used CT scans of Tutankhamun's body to theorise that he died from the effects of a knee fracture?
• ... that the third of Claude Debussy's three Nocturnes for orchestra requires a women's chorus to sing wordlessly like sirens?
• ... that English footballer Mark Bright was a foster child, started on wages of £10 a week, and has gone on to earn £1.2 million during his career?

Bong Joon-ho

• The Irish general election concludes with no party holding a majority of seats in Dáil Éireann.
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• A mass shooting in Korat, Thailand, leaves 30 people dead and more than 50 others injured.
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February 17: Family Day in parts of Canada (2020); Washington's Birthday / Presidents' Day in the United States (2020)

Geraldine Farrar as Madama Butterfly

• 1838 – Zulu impis massacred about 532 Voortrekkers, Khoikhoi, and Basuto near present-day Weenen, South Africa.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Union Army captured Columbia, South Carolina, from the Confederacy, while a large fire of unknown origin destroyed much of the city.
• 1904 – Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly (title character shown) premiered at La Scala in Milan to poor reviews, forcing him to revise the opera.
• 1964 – Gabonese military officers overthrew President Léon M'ba, but France, honoring a 1960 treaty, would forcibly reinstate him two days later.
• 1974 – A U.S. Army soldier stole a Bell UH-1 helicopter and landed it on the South Lawn of the White House.

Al-Tabari (d. 923) · Lola Montez (b. 1821) · Wally Pipp (b. 1893)