How a Mosquito Operates (1912) is a silent animated film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. The six-minute short, about a giant mosquito tormenting a dozing man who tries in vain to shoo it away, is one of the earliest works of animation. It is considered far ahead of its contemporaries in its technical quality. McCay had a reputation for his proficiency as a cartoonist, exemplified in the children's comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. He delved into the infant art of animation with the 1911 film Little Nemo, and followed its success by adapting an episode of his comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend into How a Mosquito Operates. McCay gives the animation naturalistic timing, motion, and weight, and displays a more coherent story and developed character than in Little Nemo. The film was enthusiastically received when McCay first unveiled it during a chalk talk (a vaudeville act with drawings) and in a theatrical release that soon followed. In 1914 McCay further developed his character animation style in his best-known animated work, Gertie the Dinosaur.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_a_Mosquito_Operates

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

28 BC:

The first recorded observation of a sunspot was made by Han Dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_of_the_Han_dynasty

1824:

The National Gallery in London opened to the public, in the former townhouse of the collector John Julius Angerstein. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery

1869:

The Golden Spike Ceremony was held at Promontory Summit, Utah, celebrating the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States between the Missouri and Sacramento Rivers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad

1941:

World War II: Nazi leader Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland in an attempt to negotiate peace with the United Kingdom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Hess

1981:

François Mitterrand was elected to be the first socialist President of the French Fifth Republic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Mitterrand

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

manspreading: (informal) The practice of men splaying their legs open wide when sitting on public transport, thus occupying more than one seat. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/manspreading

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

We are magic. It is magic that we're walking around. It's fantastic magic. Some people would call it miracles; I like to call it magic. … I'm very aware of this. Yes, the more aware I get, the more I can understand how big it is, how big it will get. It'll be harder to comprehend; that's why I have to go along with it, 'cause its so vast. To say to somebody that God is everything that lives and ever has lived and ever will live, and you're never going to touch and see, smell and be everything that is God. Magic is very hard to comprehend.   --Donovan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donovan