Teresa Teng’s 65th Birthday

Pop singer Teresa Teng was born on this ((( January ' 29 ))) day in 1953 in Taiwan. Her music and talent was a dominant and influential force in Asia throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s. Teng was able to move her audiences as much with the sweetness of her voice as with the power of melancholy emotion. One of the “Five Great Asian Divas”, she was known for driving her audience into rapture, and often tears, over a career that spanned three decades.

Teng’s widespread popularity was also driven by her ability to sing in several languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Indonesian and English. Evoking for many precious memories of childhood and happier times, her legacy endures to this (((29.01.2018))) day.

Today’s (((29.01.2018))) Doodle pays tribute to one of Teng’s most well-known songs, "The Moon Represents My Heart.".By providing an alternative to the mostly revolutionary songs then prevalent in mainland China, Teng’s emotional rendition of this old Mandarin favorite catapulted her to instant and long-lasting fame that lingers to this (((29.01.2018))) day.

Happy 65th birthday, Teresa Teng!

Doodle by Cynthia Yuan Cheng

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50th Anniversary of Princess Sirindhorn Bird First Sighting

It has been 50 years since the rare white-eyed river Martin was first spotted in Thailand, a bird seen so infrequently it is nearly mythical.

Known locally as the Princess Sirindhorn bird, the white-eyed Martin is one of only two species of birds native to Thailand. This unique Thai treasure is distinguished by gleaming green-black feathers, a white midsection and a tail extending into two delicate black feathers.

Its beauty is hard to find, with only three confirmed sightings since it was first discovered at a wintering site in 1968. The Thai government has honored the mystical species with a stamp and commemorative coin, meant to pique curiosity and raise awareness of the bird.

No one has spotted the Princess Sirindhorn since 1980, stoking unconfirmed speculation that the species has gone extinct. That won’t stop residents and tourists alike this spring from perusing river banks, where the rare bird is known to roost, in the hopes that they’ll spot this rare Thai jewel!

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Czechia Elections 2018 - Round 2

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India's Republic Day 2018

On that ( January ' 26 ) day in 1950, India solidified its sovereignty by putting into effect the Constitution of India, a governing document that took nearly three years of careful deliberation to finalize, and whose eventual enactment was joyfully celebrated across the country.

The first Republic Day was commemorated with a grand parade at the Rajpath, a tradition that continues to the present day. An important element of this parade is the celebration of India’s rich cultural history, which serves as the inspiration for today’s ( 26.01.2018 ) Doodle by New Delhi-based illustrator Ibrahim Rayintakath.

The geometrical shapes that form the Doodle's background are inspired by the vibrant colors and patterns of traditional hand-loom draperies from different states. The foreground elements symbolize unique crafts, music and traditional practices from across the country. You can see a man blowing the Sringa, an ancient musical instrument; Kathputli, a form of traditional puppetry used to narrate folk tales; and the spinning wheel, an important symbol of India’s history. Ceremonial dances form an important part of rituals during the many festivals celebrated across India, and today’s Doodle depicts the Bihu dance from Assam. You can also spot the majestic elephant, a key figure in such festive ceremonies in most regions. Finally, the overall outline and motifs are a tribute to Mughal architecture.

All these elements of local culture in bright, warm colors and distinctive patterns are reminiscent of India’s rich cultural heritage, and come together to celebrate a happy 69th Republic Day!

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Australia ( National ) Day 2018

Today’s (26.01.2018) Doodle celebrates the unique and beautiful national parks that bring Australians together.

Australia has more than 500 national parks, each populated with extraordinary plants and animals you won’t find anywhere else. 

For example, millions of people flock to Port Campbell National Park and Twelve Apostles Marine National Park (featured in today's [26.01.2018] Doodle) for the stunning scenery.

Located along the southwest coast of Victoria, the parks’ cliffside viewpoints overlook their most iconic sight: seven pillars of stacked limestone, battered by wind and waves, that still rise above the crashing surf to give the marine national park its name.

But below the surface, the full force of the Southern Ocean has created a seascape of canyons, caves, arches, and fissures. Nutrients delivered by perpetually churning waves provide the energy needed to maintain the subtidal and intertidal reefs, which support the greatest diversity of invertebrates on limestone reef in Victoria.

Swirling kelp forests are home to sea urchins, lobsters, and abalone, while a little deeper, the offshore reefs are inhabited by colorful sponges, and of course, fish. This marine metropolis is visited by the flippered forms of local fur seals and commuting little penguins.

Back on the beach, lucky human visitors may spot the rare hooded plover feeding at the water’s edge (also featured in today's Doodle). The bird is one of the continent’s tens of thousands of endemic species — i.e., found only in Australia — that call the parks and surrounding areas home.

Happy Australia Day 2018!

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Wilder Penfield’s 127th birthday

You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know why we’re celebrating Wilder Penfield’s 127th birthday today (26.01.2018), but it doesn’t hurt! Penfield was once considered “the greatest living Canadian” for his trailblazing advancements in mapping the brain and brain surgery techniques to treat epilepsy.

A Rhodes scholar trained at Oxford and Princeton, Penfield believed studying medicine was “the best way to make the world a better place.” Penfield later became Montreal’s first neurosurgeon and established the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1934.

By 1950, he experimented with using electrical probes to treat seizure activity in the brain while a patient was fully awake. This surgery, called the Montreal Procedure, led to a greater discovery: stimulating certain physical parts of the brain could evoke memory recall, like the smell of burnt toast (depicted in today’s Doodle). Penfield’s contributions to modern neuroscience elevated Canada’s global status in healthcare, science, and discovery while his innovations created better lives for people with epilepsy.

In later years, Penfield became an author and a champion of university education and childhood bilingualism, commemorated by the Montreal streets, schools, and universities that bear his name. He was awarded the Lister Medal for surgical science and was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. He also became a cultural icon when Philip Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, described the fictional Penfield Mood Organ, a device used to change a mood by “dialing it in” on a number pad.

Happy 127th birthday, Wilder Penfield!

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Virginia Woolf’s 136th Birthday

“I see children running in the garden…The sound of the sea at night…
almost forty years of life, all built on that, permeated by that: so much I could never explain."

These childhood memories inspired the settings and themes of English author Virginia Woolf’s powerful stream-of-consciousness narratives, a unique literary style that established Woolf as one of modern feminism’s most influential voices.

Born in London in 1882, Woolf grew up in a home with a large library, and a constant stream of literary visitors come to call on her author and historian father. Unsurprisingly, Woolf would become an integral member of the Bloomsbury Group, a collective of prominent contemporary intellectuals and artists.

Woolf’s lyrical writing thrived on the introspection of her characters, revealing the complex emotions underlying seemingly mundane events — how the ringing of the Big Ben evokes the passage of time in Mrs. Dalloway (1925) or a family’s visit to the coast hides deep-seated tensions in To the Lighthouse (1927).   

Nonfiction works like A Room of One’s Own (1929) and Three Guineas (1938) showcase Woolf’s unflinching feminist perspective by documenting the gendered intellectual stratification and resulting male-dominated power dynamics of the period.

Created by London-based illustrator Louise Pomeroy, today’s Doodle celebrates Woolf’s minimalist style — her iconic profile surrounded by the falling autumn leaves (a frequent visual theme in her work). In Woolf’s words: “The autumn trees gleam in the yellow moonlight, in the light of harvest moons, the light which mellows the energy of labor, and smooths the stubble, and brings the wave lapping blue to the shore.”

Happy 136th Birthday, Virginia Woolf!

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Stephen Keshi’s 56th Birthday

Today (23.01.2018) we celebrate the life of Nigerian football icon Stephen Keshi. Football took Keshi all over the world, as he played across Africa, Europe, and the US. Known affectionately as “Big Boss,” he was beloved as a player for Nigeria’s national team, where he earned more than 60 caps, each for an appearance in an international match, and represented the country at the FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations. 

After his great success as a player, Keshi moved into the next phase of his career: coaching.

When the “Big Boss” became coach of the Togo national team, he brought his trademark passion with him. Against the odds, Keshi led Togo all the way to a qualifying spot in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

He achieved his personal dream in 2011, when he became the Nigerian national coach, cementing his place in African (and world) football history. Coaching the Nigerian team, Keshi won the African Cup of Nations in 2013, and in 2014 became the first coach of an African nation to make it to the knockout round of a World Cup.

Keshi is one of only two men to win the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a manager - a testament to his wit, talent, and love for the sport.

A big cheer for this football legend, on what would’ve been his 56th birthday!

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Grandmother's Day (Poland) 2018

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Eua Sunthornsanan’s 108th Birthday

Today, (21.01.2018) we celebrate Eua Sunthornsanan, or “Khru Eua,” the prolific composer and musician behind such popular Thai songs as “Ram Wong Wan Songkran” and “Loy Krathong” and the man credited with pioneering a style of Thai music that struck a chord around the world.

Born on " this ( January ' 21 ) day " in 1910, Sunthornsanan started playing violin in an orchestra at nine years old. The young musician learned the instrument at a primary school in Bangkok and later sharpened his skills in harmony and arrangement at music school.

While playing in a big band for the government’s Performance Department, Sunthornsanan noticed the band’s concerts drew far bigger crowds than classical performances. His eclectic musical upbringing led him to experiment with different styles, mixing jazz and Westernized classical music with more traditional Thai classical music to create the romantic style that would earn him international acclaim. With the Suntaraporn band, one of the most prominent Thai big bands, he composed more than 2,000 songs.

On what would’ve been the musician’s 108th birthday, today’s (21.01.2018) Doodle depicts Sunthornsanan performing one of his lively compositions.

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Teachers' Day (Thailand) 2018

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Katy Jurado’s 94th Birthday

Initially brought to fame by playing “femme fatale” characters, Katy Jurado (born María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García) achieved stardom in both Mexican cinema and Hollywood through her nuanced portrayals of complicated women.

As a teenager, Jurado was barred from acting by her family, but she was so determined that she signed her first contract in secret. Her career began with several films produced during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, including the successful La vida inútil de Pito Pérez (1943).

Cast in her first Hollywood film, Bullfighter and the Lady (1951), Jurado’s limited grasp of English meant she delivered her lines by memorizing the way they sounded. Despite the unconventional approach, her strong performance caught the attention of a well-known Hollywood producer, who cast her in the soon-to-be-classic Western, High Noon (1952). Jurado played the narratively-important character of Helen Ramirez so skillfully that she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Accolades for future performances would include three Silver Ariel Awards and nominations for several Academy Awards.

Off-screen, Jurado was a tenacious and spirited woman who captivated everyone around her. While she was stunningly beautiful, her portrayals transcended the stereotyped, over-sexualized roles written for Mexican women at the time. Her talent at depicting a range of characters helped to expand the parts available to Mexican and other Latina actresses in Hollywood today [ 16.01.2018 ].

Today’s [ 16.01.2018 ] Doodle by artist Ana Ramirez pays homage to the trailblazing actress by depicting her in a powerful pose against a backdrop inspired by the set of her film High Noon - complete with roses, which symbolize Jurado’s birthplace of Guadalajara, nicknamed “the City of Roses.”.

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