American science fiction and fantasy magazines flourished from the mid-
1920s to the 1940s. The first magazine to focus on fantasy and horror
was Weird Tales, launched in 1923, which established itself as the
leading weird fiction magazine over the next two decades, with regular
contributors such as H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E.
Howard. In 1926 Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories appeared (pictured),
running only science fiction. Its letters column, which often provided
contact information, marked the beginning of organized science fiction
fandom. Astounding Stories of Super-Science, founded in 1930, became the
leading magazine in its genre, publishing early classics such as Murray
Leinster's "Sidewise in Time". John W. Campbell took over as editor in
1937 and ran works by Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and A. E. van
Vogt. Only eight science fiction and fantasy magazines survived World
War II, with all but Astounding still in pulp magazine format.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_US_science_fiction_and_fantasy_magazines_to_1950>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1787:
German-born British astronomer William Herschel discovered two
Uranian moons, later named by his son as Oberon and Titania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titania_%28moon%29>
1923:
Troops from France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr to force the
German Weimar Republic to pay its reparations in the aftermath of World
War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr>
1964:
In a landmark report, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued
the warning that smoking may be hazardous to people's health, concluding
that it has a causative role in lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, and
other illnesses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_and_Health:_Report_of_the_Advisory_Committee_to_the_Surgeon_General_of_the_United_States>
2003:
After Chicago police detective Jon Burge was discovered to have
forced confessions from more than 200 suspects, Governor of Illinois
George Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 prisoners and pardoned 4
more.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ryan>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
blotto:
(informal) (Very) drunk or intoxicated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blotto>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Not the individual man nor a single generation by its own power
can erect the bridge that leads to God. Faith is the achievement of many
generations, and effort accumulated over many centuries. … There is a
collective memory of God in the human spirit, and it is this memory
which is the main source of our faith.
--Abraham Joshua Heschel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Joshua_Heschel>