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From today's featured article
The IFF Mark II antenna is visible to the left of the roundel.
IFF Mark II was the first operational identification friend or foe system,
developed by the Royal Air Force just before World War II. The Mark I, its
predecessor, amplified the signals of the British Chain Home radar systems,
triggering a radar display blip. It required manual tuning, and operators could not
always distinguish between an enemy aircraft and a friendly one with a maladjusted
IFF. The Mark II, deployed at the end of the Battle of Britain in late 1940, fixed
this problem with an automatic gain control and three automatic tuners that covered
a wider selection of radars. The Mark II's frequencies were sufficient for the
early war period, but by 1942 many more radars were in use, including incompatible
ones based on the cavity magnetron. The IFF Mark III eliminated the multiple tuners
and operated on a single frequency that could be used with any radar; it entered
service in 1943 and quickly replaced the Mark II. (Full article...)

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Did you know...
Euro-sign sculpture
Euro-sign sculpture
... that a monumental euro-sign sculpture (pictured) is installed at the Willy-
Brandt-Platz in Frankfurt, which was named in 1992 after the former chancellor?
... that Finland's minister of science and culture Hanna Kosonen is a world
champion in ski orienteering?
... that to circumvent a racial quota struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court,
apartments at Starrett City were left vacant instead of being rented to black and
Hispanic families?
... that a few months after L� Peijian was appointed China's auditor general, he
announced the discovery of more than US$1.6 billion worth of tax evasion, fraud,
and waste?
... that the silk made by webspinners is produced from glands on their forelegs?
... that before he wrote Areyo Hoshikuzu, a manga about demobilized soldiers in
occupied Japan, series creator Sansuke Yamada was best known as a gay manga artist?
... that funeral dinners are regularly attended by up to a quarter of the residents
in Darrington, Washington?
... that Patricia Swallow led the Wrens, served on the Heron, and was vice
president of the Royal Naval Bird Watching Society?
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In the news
Middlesex Guildhall
Middlesex Guildhall
During a prolonged period of haze over Southeast Asia, more than 800,000 people
endure respiratory diseases.
An earthquake in Kashmir kills 38 people and injures more than 700 others.
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (building pictured) unanimously rules that
the September 2019 prorogation of Parliament was unlawful and void.
Astronomers announce that 2I/Borisov is the first verified interstellar comet,
ahead of its closest approach to the Sun on 7 December.
Ongoing: Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump Climate strikes Brexit Papua
protests
Recent deaths: Jack Edwards Shuping Wang Arne Weise Sid Haig Robert Hunter Madhav
Apte
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On this day
September 30: First day of Rosh Hashanah (Judaism, 2019, AM 5780)
Hotel Ambacang, destroyed by the 2009 Sumatra earthquake
Hotel Ambacang, destroyed by the 2009 Sumatra earthquake
737 � Muslim conquest of Transoxiana: T�rgesh tribes attacked the exposed baggage
train of the Umayyads, which had been sent ahead of the main force, and captured
it.
1551 � Sue Takafusa, a military leader for the Ouchi clan in western Japan, led a
coup against the daimyo, Ouchi Yoshitaka, leading to the latter's forced suicide.
1882 � The Vulcan Street Plant, the first hydroelectric central station to serve a
system of private and commercial customers in North America, went on line in
Appleton, Wisconsin.
1939 � NBC broadcast the first televised American football game, between the
Fordham Rams and the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets.
2009 � A 7.6 MW earthquake struck off the southern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia
(damage pictured), killing 1,115 and impacting an estimated 1.2 million people.
Honorius of Canterbury (d. 653) � Lucinda Hinsdale Stone (b. 1814) � Catie Ball (b.
1951)

More anniversaries: September 29 September 30 October 1

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From today's featured list
Allyson Felix in 2016
Five-time winner Allyson Felix
The Jesse Owens Award is an annual track and field award that is the highest
accolade given out by USA Track & Field. As the country's highest award for the
sport, it bears Jesse Owens's name in recognition of his significant career, which
included four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. First awarded in 1981 to
hurdler Edwin Moses, it was created to recognize the season's top American
performer in track and field competitions. In 1996, the award was divided into two
categories, with both a male and female winner. The 1996 winners, Michael Johnson
and Gail Devers, each won two gold medals at that year's Olympics in Atlanta. The
winners of the award are typically announced in late November or early December
after the end of the outdoor track and field season. A number of athletes have
received the award on more than one occasion: Jackie Joyner-Kersee was the first to
do so with back-to-back wins in 1986 and 1987, while Carl Lewis won his second
award in 1991. Sprinter Allyson Felix (pictured) has won the award on five
occasions, more times than any other athlete. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture
Gentoo penguin
The gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) is a penguin species in the genus Pygoscelis,
most closely related to the Ad�lie penguin and the chinstrap penguin. The earliest
scientific description was made in 1781 by Johann Reinhold Forster with a reference
point of the Falkland Islands. They call in a variety of ways, but the most
frequently heard is a loud trumpeting which the bird emits with its head thrown
back. The gentoo penguin is easily recognized by the wide white stripe extending
like a bonnet across the top of its head and its bright orange-red bill. It has
pale whitish-pink webbed feet and a fairly long tail � the most prominent tail of
all penguin species. Chicks have grey backs with white fronts. As the gentoo
penguin waddles along on land, its tail sticks out behind, sweeping from side to
side, hence the scientific name Pygoscelis, which means 'rump-tailed'.

Photograph credit: Andrew Shiva

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