Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 April 15

Cosmic Stories and Stirring Science Stories were two pulp science fiction magazines that published a total of seven issues in 1941 and 1942. Both were edited by Donald A. Wollheim and launched by Albing Publications, appearing in alternate months. Wollheim had no budget at all for fiction, so he solicited stories from his friends among the Futurians, a group of young science fiction fans including James Blish and C.M. Kornbluth. Isaac Asimov contributed a story, but later insisted on payment after hearing that F. Orlin Tremaine, the editor of Comet—a competing science fiction magazine—was irate at the idea of a magazine that might "siphon readership from magazines that paid", and thought that authors who contributed should be blacklisted. Kornbluth was the most prolific contributor, under several pseudonyms; one of his stories, "Thirteen O'Clock", was very successful, and helped to make his reputation in the field. The magazines ceased publication in late 1941, but Wollheim was able to find a publisher for one further issue of Stirring Science Stories in March 1942 before war restrictions forced it to close again. (Full article...)

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Girl at Sewing Machine is a 1921 painting by Edward Hopper that is currently housed in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, Spain. The first of Hopper's "window paintings", it portrays a young girl sitting at a sewing machine facing a window on a beautiful sunny day. The location appears to be New York as is evident from the yellow bricks in the window.

Painting: Edward Hopper

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