Addie Viola Smith (1893–1975) was an American attorney who served as the U.S. trade commissioner to Shanghai from 1928 to 1939, the first female Foreign Service officer in the U.S. Foreign Service to work under the Commerce Department, and the first woman to serve as trade commissioner. A native of Stockton, California, Smith moved to Washington, D.C., in 1917. While working for the United States Department of Labor, she attended the Washington College of Law part-time, earning a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1920. She joined the Foreign Service in October that year. Posted to Beijing as a clerk, she was promoted to assistant trade commissioner in Shanghai in 1922, and to trade commissioner in 1928. She later held roles in the U.S. government, world organizations, and the United Nations. Smith met her life partner, Eleanor Mary Hinder, in 1926; they moved to Hinder's native Australia in 1957, where stone seats are dedicated to them at the E. G. Waterhouse National Camellia Gardens. (Full article...)

September 20

Holothuria fuscogilva, also known as the white teatfish, is a species of sea cucumber in the family Holothuriidae. It is found in the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific in shallow waters near islands and around coral reefs. Juveniles live in shallower waters (such as inter-tidal zones) and then migrate to deeper waters as they mature. Adults of this species weigh between 2.4 and 4 kilograms (5.3 and 8.8 pounds) and are elliptical in shape with a firm texture. They feature lateral papillae (teats), which are often buried in the sand. The species is consumed as food and is vulnerable to over-exploitation from commercial fishing. This H. fuscogilva sea cucumber was photographed in Ras Muhammad National Park off the Red Sea coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Photograph credit: Diego Delso Recently featured: W. S. Gilbert Cinnamon quail-thrush Ganymede Archive More featured pictures

Commons picture of the day
Cuban tree frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) on Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands

4 September 2024
News and notes: WikiCup enters final round, MCDC wraps up activities, 17-year-old hoax article unmasked In the media: AI is not playing games anymore. Is Wikipedia ready? Recent research: Simulated Wikipedia seen as less credible than ChatGPT and Alexa in experiment News from the WMF: Meet the 12 candidates running in the WMF Board of Trustees election Wikimania: A month after Wikimania 2024 Serendipity: What it's like to be Wikimedian of the Year Traffic report: After the gold rush Humour: Local man halfway through rude reply no longer able to recall why he hates other editor
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