Battle Birds was an American air-war pulp magazine, published by Popular Publications. It was launched at the end of 1932, but did not sell well, and in 1934 the publisher turned it into an air-war hero pulp titled Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds. Robert Sidney Bowen, an established pulp writer, provided the lead novel each month, and also wrote the short stories that filled out the issue. Bowen's stories were set in the future, with the United States menaced by an Asian empire called the Black Invaders. The change was not successful enough to be extended beyond the initial plan of a year, and Bowen wrote a novel in which, unusually for pulp fiction, Dusty Ayres finally defeated the invaders, to end the series. The magazine ceased publication with the July/August 1935 issue. It restarted in 1940 under the original title, Battle Birds, and lasted for another four years. All the cover art was painted by Frederick Blakeslee.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1800:

French Revolutionary Wars: Facing starvation and a death rate of 100 soldiers per day, the French garrison in Malta surrendered to British forces, ending a two-year siege. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malta_%281798%E2%80%931800%29

1843:

The state wedding of Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies and Emperor Pedro II of Brazil took place at the Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Cristina_of_the_Two_Sicilies

1977:

The Golden Dragon massacre occurred in Chinatown, San Francisco, leaving five dead and spurring police to end Chinese gang violence in the city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Dragon_massacre

2010:

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake (damage pictured) struck the Canterbury Region of New Zealand, causing two deaths and up to NZ$40 billion in damages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Canterbury_earthquake

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

heartstrings: 1. (anatomy) 2. (historical) The tendons or other structures resembling cords once thought to be attached to, or to brace, the heart; especially the aorta, pulmonary artery, and other large arteries connected to them; also, the diaphragm. 3. (by extension) Synonym of chordae tendineae (“the cord-like tendons that connect the papillary muscles to the tricuspid valve and the mitral valve in the heart”) 4. (figurative) 5. The source of one's deepest emotions or inner feelings, especially compassion or love. 6. (archaic) The essential or vital part of something; the core, the essence, the heart. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heartstrings

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

As soon as you look at the world through an ideology you are finished. No reality fits an ideology. Life is beyond that. That is why people are always searching for a meaning to life. But life has no meaning; it cannot have meaning because meaning is a formula; meaning is something that makes sense to the mind. Every time you make sense out of reality, you bump into something that destroys the sense you made. Meaning is only found when you go beyond meaning. Life only makes sense when you perceive it as mystery and it makes no sense to the conceptualizing mind.   --Anthony de Mello https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_de_Mello