The 2002 Pacific typhoon season, covering the Pacific north of the
equator and west of the International Date Line, was very active, with
many tropical cyclones affecting the Philippines, Japan, and China,
especially from July to October. Overall, there were 37 tropical
depressions declared officially or unofficially, of which 26 became
named storms, including 15 typhoons (hurricanes). The season began
early: Tapah developed on January 10 east of the Philippines. Two months
later, Typhoon Mitag became the first recorded super typhoon in March.
In June, Typhoon Chataan dropped heavy rainfall in the Federated States
of Micronesia, killing 48 people and becoming the deadliest natural
disaster in the state of Chuuk. Chataan later left heavy damage in Guam
before striking Japan. In August, Typhoon Rusa became the deadliest
typhoon in South Korea in 43 years, causing 238 deaths and $4.2 billion
in damage. Typhoon Higos (pictured) in October was the third-strongest
typhoon to strike Tokyo since World War II. Typhoon Pongsona, the last
of the season, became one of the costliest storms ($700 million) on
record in Guam; it dissipated on December 11.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Pacific_typhoon_season>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1757:
English poet Christopher Smart was admitted into St Luke's
Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to
mental asylums.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Smart%27s_asylum_confinement>
1882:
U.S. President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion
Act into law, implementing a ban on Chinese immigration to the United
States that remained until the Magnuson Act was enacted in 1943.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act>
1937:
The German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed
during an attempt to dock at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey,
killing 36 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg>
1991:
Time magazine published "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power",
an article highly critical of the Scientology organization, leading to
years of legal conflict that ended when the Church of Scientology's
petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United
States in the case was denied in 2001.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thriving_Cult_of_Greed_and_Power>
2013:
Amanda Berry escaped from the Cleveland, Ohio, US, home of her
captor Ariel Castro after having been held there with two other women
for ten years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Castro_kidnappings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
softly softly:
(UK, idiomatic) In a very tactful, careful, or nondisruptive manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/softly_softly>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling
us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our
reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places,
other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the
one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life
and words of Jesus.
--Sydney Carter
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sydney_Carter>