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The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House is located at 1 Bowling Green, near the southern end of Manhattan. Named for Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father, and designed by Cass Gilbert in the Beaux-Arts style, it was erected from 1902 to 1907 to house the Port of New York's duty-collection operations. The building contains the George Gustav Heye Center museum, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, and local offices of the National Archives. The facade and part of the interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The main entrance consists of a grand staircase flanked by Four Continents, a set of four statues by Daniel Chester French. The United States Customs Service moved out of the building in 1974, and it remained vacant for more than a decade until renovations in the late 1980s. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Antimonumento +43

... that the anti-monument to the 43 students kidnapped in 2014 (pictured) was also dedicated to the thousands of people reported missing in Mexico?
... that Incas, the last known Carolina parakeet, died in the same aviary cage as the last passenger pigeon?
... that the lichen genus Felipes is named for its fruiting structures, which resemble a cat's paw?
... that heavy metal band Judas Priest took their name from Bob Dylan's song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest"?
... that Rings of Power showrunner Patrick McKay likened Isildur to Michael Corleone from The Godfather?
... that Oak Industries was the largest American maker of TV tuning dials in 1980?
... that Wesley Tann designed dresses for Jackie Kennedy, Carmen de Lavallade, Leontyne Price and Michelle Obama?
... that some microorganisms consume honey despite it having antimicrobial qualities?

In the news

Annie Ernaux

Annie Ernaux (pictured) is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
At least 36 people, mostly children, are killed in an attack at a nursery in Nong Bua Lamphu province, Thailand.
Svante Pääbo is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on human evolutionary genetics.
Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw and Kenyan Amos Kipruto win the London Marathon women's and men's races.

On this day

October 8

Wreckage from the Harrow and Wealdstone train crash

1862 – The Battle of Perryville, a battle of the American Civil War with a high casualty count, was fought west of Perryville, Kentucky.
1952 – Three trains collided (aftermath pictured) at Harrow & Wealdstone station in London, killing 112 people and injuring 340 others.
1967 – Marxist revolutionary and guerrilla leader Che Guevara was captured near La Higuera, Bolivia.
1998 – A new airport for Oslo, Norway, opened at Gardermoen, replacing a smaller one at the same location that had served as a backup to the city's previous main airport at Fornebu.
2001 – At Linate Airport in Milan, Italy, Scandinavian Airlines Flight SK686 collided on take-off with a Cessna Citation II business jet, killing 118 people.

Mark Oliphant (b. 1901)
Ellen Wilkinson (b. 1891)
Aya Hirano (b. 1987)

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Today's featured picture

The rosy-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis), also known as the rosy-collared or peach-faced lovebird, is a species of lovebird native to arid regions in southwestern Africa such as the Namib. A loud and constant chirper, they are very social and often congregate in small groups in the wild. They eat throughout the day and take frequent baths. Coloration can vary widely among populations, and plumage is identical in males and females. Lovebirds are renowned for their sleep position in which they sit side-by-side and turn their faces in towards each other. Females are well noted to tear raw materials into long strips, "twisty-tie" them onto their backs, and fly substantial distances back to make a nest. These photographs of a rosy-faced lovebird of the subspecies A. r. roseicollis, seen from the front (top) and the back (bottom), were taken in Erongo Region, Namibia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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