John Neal

Brother Jonathan is an 1825 historical novel about the American Revolution. Author John Neal (pictured) was considered one of America's top novelists at the time. The story explores cross-cultural relationships and highlights cultural diversity within the Thirteen Colonies, stressing egalitarianism and challenging the conception of a unified American nation. The book's sexual themes were explicit for the period, addressing female sexual virtue and male guilt for sexual misdeeds. Scholars praised Brother Jonathan's extensive and early use of realism in depicting American culture and speech. It is Neal's longest work and possibly the longest single work of American fiction until well into the twentieth century. The editing process resulted in a number of inconsistencies in the plot. A financial failure, it received mixed but mostly warm reviews at the time. Readers of the twenty-first century are generally unaware of the book, and many scholars consider it too complex to be considered good. (Full article...)

40 Bank Street

• ... that 40 Bank Street (pictured), a skyscraper in London, has been described as looking like two different buildings fused into one?
• ... that Gurdev Singh Gill was the first Canadian physician of Indian descent?
• ... that adding the site isolation security feature made Google Chrome use 10 percent more RAM?
• ... that the Filipino musician No Rome took his stage name from people doubting his career choice?
• ... that the Chompi Kickstarter campaign was one of the most successful of 2023?
• ... that Holly Ringland wrote her second book while stuck in Australia for three years during the COVID-19 pandemic?
• ... that adherents of effective accelerationism believe that unrestricted technological progress would be a solution for poverty and war?
• ... that William Aditya Sarana was sworn in as a regional legislator four days before he graduated from university?

Imran Khan

• Former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan (pictured) is sentenced to ten years in prison for leaking state secrets, fourteen years for corruption, and to seven years for illegal marriage.
• Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announce their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States.
• Following damage to the helicopter's rotors, NASA ends the Ingenuity mission on Mars after seventy-two flights in almost three years.
• The Ram Mandir, a temple to Rama, is consecrated at a disputed site in Ayodhya, India.

February 3: Feast day of Saint Laurence of Canterbury (Western Christianity); Four Chaplains' Day in the United States (1943)

British bomber flying to join the Battle of Keren

• 1813 – Argentine War of Independence: José de San Martín and the Mounted Grenadiers Regiment defeated Spanish royalist forces in the Battle of San Lorenzo.
• 1941 – Second World War: Free French and British forces (aircraft pictured) began the Battle of Keren to capture the strategic town of Keren in Italian East Africa.
• 1953 – Hundreds of native creoles known as Forros were massacred on São Tomé Island by the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners.
• 2023 – A freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing hazardous materials into the surrounding area.