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Isabella Beeton (1836–1865) was an English journalist and editor, and the author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. She married Samuel Orchart Beeton, an ambitious publisher and magazine editor, in 1856. Less than a year later, she began writing for one of his publications, The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. She translated French fiction and wrote the cookery column, though all the recipes were plagiarised from other works, or sent in by the magazine's readers. In 1859 the Beetons launched a series of 48-page monthly supplements to the magazine; the 24 instalments were published in one volume as the Book of Household Management in October 1861, which sold 60,000 copies in the first year. Isabella was working on an abridged version of her book when she died of puerperal fever at the age of 28. She had given birth to four children, two of whom died in infancy, and had had several miscarriages. Two of her biographers posit the theory that Samuel had unknowingly contracted syphilis in a premarital liaison with a prostitute, and had passed the condition on to his wife. (Full article...)

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Antarctic Sound

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In the news

Total solar eclipse, viewed from Balikpapan

A total solar eclipse occurs, with totality (pictured) visible from Indonesia and the North Pacific.
In the Slovak parliamentary election, Direction – Social Democracy remains the largest political party but loses its majority in the National Council.
The Human Rights Protection Party, led by Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, wins a landslide victory in the Samoan general election.
Astronomers announce the identification of GN-z11, the most distant known galaxy in the Universe.
Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres is murdered, prompting protests and calls for an investigation.

Ongoing events:
- Zika virus outbreak
- European migrant crisis
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On this day...

March 12: World Day Against Cyber Censorship

Juliette Gordon Low, by Edward Hughes

1864 – American Civil War: The Union Army began the ill-fated Red River Campaign, in which not a single objective was fully accomplished.
1881 – Andrew Watson made his debut with the Scotland national football team and became the world's first black international football player.
1912 – Juliette Gordon Low (pictured) founded a youth organization for girls that grew into the Girl Scouts of the USA.
1934 – Supported by the Estonian Army, Konstantin Päts staged a coup d'état, beginning the Era of Silence.
1993 – A series of thirteen coordinated bomb explosions took place in Bombay, India, killing over 250 civilians and injuring over 700 others.

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Today's featured picture

An illustration from Urania's Mirror (1825) depicting the constellation Lynx, with the obsolete constellation Telescopium Herschelii to its right. Lynx, introduced in the 17th century by Johannes Hevelius, is a faint constellation in the northern sky. Its brightest star, Alpha Lyncis, has an apparent magnitude of +3.13.

Illustration: Sidney Hall; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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