Wikipedia article of the day for October 19, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 19, 2020 is V. Gordon Childe.
V. Gordon Childe (1892–1957) was an Australian archaeologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. He spent most of his life in the United Kingdom, working as an academic for the University of Edinburgh and then the Institute of Archaeology, London, and wrote twenty-six books during his career. Initially an early proponent of culture-historical archaeology, he later became the first exponent of Marxist archaeology in the Western world. Childe studied classics at the University of Sydney before moving to England to study classical archaeology at the University of Oxford. In 1921 he became librarian of the Royal Anthropological Institute and journeyed across Europe to pursue his research into the continent's prehistory. He co-founded The Prehistoric Society in 1934 and was its first president. In a 1935 presidential address he argued that a Neolithic Revolution initiated the Neolithic era, and that other revolutions marked the start of the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 18, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 18, 2020 is Canada lynx.
The Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) is a medium-sized North American cat breeding across Alaska, Canada and much of the contiguous United States. It has long, dense fur, triangular ears with black tufts, and broad paws. It is a good swimmer and climber. A specialist predator, the lynx depends heavily on snowshoe hares for food, which leads to a prey–predator cycle, as populations of the two species respond to each other. The lynx hunts at twilight or at night, ambushing hares and killing them by biting the head or throat. After a gestation period of two to three months, up to eight kittens are born which are weaned at three months. This lynx occurs predominantly in dense boreal forests, its range coinciding with that of the hare. Given its abundance and no severe threats, the Canada lynx is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It is regularly trapped for the international fur trade in most of Alaska and Canada but is protected in the south due to threats such as habitat loss.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 17, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 17, 2020 is Tube Alloys.
Tube Alloys was the code name of the United Kingdom's research-and-development programme, with participation from Canada, to develop nuclear weapons during the Second World War. A 1940 memorandum on the possibility of a nuclear weapon led to the formation early in the war of the MAUD Committee, chaired by George Thomson (pictured), which called for an all-out development effort. Due to the high costs and the potential threat from German bombers, Tube Alloys was subsumed into the Manhattan Project by the Quebec Agreement. The British contribution to the Manhattan Project was crucial, but the United States did not provide complete details to the United Kingdom. The Soviet Union gained valuable information through its atomic spies, who had infiltrated both the British and American projects. After the war, the United States terminated co-operation with the enactment of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. This prompted the United Kingdom to relaunch its own project: High Explosive Research.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 16, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 16, 2020 is A History of the Birds of Europe.
A History of the Birds of Europe, including all the Species inhabiting the Western Palearctic Region is a nine-volume ornithological book published in parts between 1871 and 1882. It is mainly written by Henry Eeles Dresser, although Richard Bowdler Sharpe co-authored the earlier volumes. The book describes all the bird species reliably recorded in the wild in Europe and adjacent geographical areas with similar fauna, giving their worldwide distribution, variations in appearance and migratory movements. It was published as 84 quarto parts, each typically containing 56 pages of text and eight plates of illustrations, the latter mainly by the Dutch artist John Gerrard Keulemans, and bound into permanent volumes when all the parts were published. In total, 339 copies were made, at a cost to each subscriber of £52 10s. Birds of Europe was well received by its contemporary reviewers, although Dresser's outdated views and the cost of his books meant that in the long run his works had limited influence.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 13, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 13, 2020 is Mike Capel.
Mike Capel (born October 13, 1961) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who played for the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and Houston Astros. In 49 career games, Capel pitched 62.1 innings, struck out 43 batters, and had a career win–loss record of 3–4 with a 4.62 earned run average. A starting pitcher in college and parts of his Minor League Baseball career, he converted to relief pitching while in Chicago's minor league system. The Philadelphia Phillies chose Capel in the 24th round of the 1980 Major League Baseball draft, but instead of signing with the team, he opted to attend the University of Texas. He played on the 1982 USA College All-Star Team, which placed third in the Amateur World Series in Seoul. The next year, Capel and the Texas Longhorns won the College World Series. After he was drafted by the Cubs, Capel left Texas and played in six seasons of the minor leagues before he made his major league debut in 1988.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 12, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 12, 2020 is Hurricane Gonzalo.
Hurricane Gonzalo formed on October 12, 2014, and became the first Category 4 Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Ophelia in 2011. It made landfall on Antigua, Saint Martin, and Anguilla as a Category 1 hurricane. Antigua and Barbuda sustained US$40 million in losses, and three people died on Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy. Gonzalo intensified into a major hurricane, peaking on October 16 with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h). It struck Bermuda less than a week after the surprisingly fierce Hurricane Fay; the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season was the first in recorded history with two hurricane landfalls in Bermuda. Gonzalo battered the island with wind gusts as high as 144 mph (232 km/h), downing hundreds of trees and causing widespread roof damage and power outages, but no deaths or serious injuries were reported. A large storm system from the remnants of Gonzalo battered the British Isles and central Europe on October 21, killing three people in the United Kingdom.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 11, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 11, 2020 is Jerome, Arizona.
Jerome is a town in the Black Hills of Yavapai County in the U.S. state of Arizona. Founded in the late 19th century on Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley, it is about 100 miles (160 km) north of Phoenix along State Route 89A between Sedona and Prescott. Supported in its heyday by mines, it was home to more than 10,000 people in the 1920s. The town owes its existence mainly to two ore bodies that formed about 1.75 billion years ago. In the late 19th century, the United Verde Mine, developed by William A. Clark, extracted ore bearing copper, gold, silver, and other metals from the larger of the two deposits. The United Verde Extension UVX Mine, owned by James Douglas Jr., worked the smaller one. The copper deposits discovered in the vicinity of Jerome were among the richest ever found. As the ore deposits ran out, the mines closed, and the population had dwindled to fewer than 100 by the mid-1950s. Jerome became a National Historic Landmark in 1967.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 10, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 10, 2020 is Battle of Cape Ecnomus.
The Battle of Cape Ecnomus was a naval battle fought off the coast of Sicily in 256 BC between the fleets of Carthage and the Roman Republic during the First Punic War (264–241 BC). The Carthaginian fleet was commanded by Hanno the Great and Hamilcar; the Roman fleet was led by the consuls for the year, Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus. The Roman fleet of 330 warships sailed with approximately 140,000 men on board. The Romans' plan was to cross to Africa and invade the Carthaginian homeland, in what is now Tunisia. The Carthaginians were apparently aware of the Romans' intentions and mustered 350 warships off the south coast of Sicily to intercept them. With a combined total of about 680 warships carrying up to 290,000 crew and marines, the battle was possibly the largest naval battle in history by the number of combatants involved. After a prolonged and confused day of fighting the Carthaginians were decisively defeated.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 9, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 9, 2020 is Hassium.
Hassium is a highly radioactive chemical element with symbol Hs and atomic number 108. The most stable known isotopes have half-lives of around 10 seconds. Natural occurrences of this superheavy element have been hypothesised, but none has ever been found. The first attempts to artificially prepare element 108 by nuclear fusion began in 1978 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in the Soviet Union; though likely successful by 1984, these experiments did not prove conclusively that the element had been synthesised. For this reason, the discovery is principally credited to a team led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung who bombarded lead-208 with iron-58 and produced hassium-265. The name hassium was selected as a reference to the German state of Hesse, where the research was conducted. The observed chemical properties of hassium are consistent with its expected placement as the group 8 element in period 7 of the periodic table.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 8, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 8, 2020 is Florin (British coin).
The British florin, or two-shilling coin, was issued from 1849 until 1967, with a final issue for collectors dated 1970. Valued at one tenth of a pound (24 old pence), it was introduced in 1849 as part of an experiment in decimalisation that went no further at that time. The original florins attracted controversy for omitting a reference to God from Queen Victoria's titles; that type is accordingly known as the "godless florin", and was in 1851 succeeded by the "Gothic florin", for its design and style of lettering. Throughout most of its existence, the florin bore some variation of either the shields of the United Kingdom or the emblems of its constituent nations. In 1968, prior to Decimal Day, the Royal Mint began issuing the ten-pence piece, identical to the florin in specifications and value. Both coins remained in circulation until 1993, when the ten pence piece was made smaller, and the florin was demonetised.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 7, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 7, 2020 is Cape Feare.
"Cape Feare" is the second episode in the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. Originally aired on the Fox network on October 7, 1993, it features the return of guest star Kelsey Grammer (pictured) as Sideshow Bob, who tries to kill Bart Simpson after getting out of jail. "Cape Feare" is a spoof of the 1962 film Cape Fear and its 1991 remake, which in turn are based on John D. MacDonald's 1957 novel The Executioners. The episode was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Rich Moore. The production crew added several scenes after finding it difficult to fill the half-hour slot. In one sequence, Sideshow Bob is hit in the face repeatedly by rakes that he steps on; this scene has been cited as one of the show's most memorable moments. Cast member Hank Azaria called this episode his favorite in the series. The musical score earned composer Alf Clausen an Emmy Award nomination.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 6, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 6, 2020 is Banksia petiolaris.
Banksia petiolaris is a species of flowering plant of the family Proteaceae native to Western Australia, where it is found in sandy soils in the south coastal regions from Munglinup east to Israelite Bay. It was first described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1864. B. petiolaris grows as a prostrate shrub, with horizontal stems and thick, leathery upright leaves. The leaves can be viable for up to 13 years—the longest-lived of any flowering plant recorded. Yellow cylindrical flower spikes (pictured), up to 16 cm (6 1⁄4 in) high, appear in spring. As the spikes age, they turn grey and develop up to 20 woody seed pods each, known as follicles. Insects such as bees, wasps and ants pollinate the flowers. B. petiolaris regenerates by seed after bushfire. The species adapts readily to cultivation, growing in well-drained sandy soils in sunny locations. It is suitable for rockeries and as a groundcover.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 5, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 5, 2020 is SMS Dresden (1907).
SMS Dresden was a German light cruiser, armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns and two torpedo tubes, launched in October 1907. Dresden visited the United States in 1909 during the Hudson–Fulton Celebration, before serving in the High Seas Fleet. In 1913, she was assigned to the Mediterranean Division, then sent to the Caribbean. At the onset of World War I, Dresden operated as a commerce raider in South American waters in the Atlantic, then moved to the Pacific Ocean and joined the German East Asia Squadron. Dresden saw action in the Battle of Coronel in November 1914, and at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December, where she was the only German warship to elude the British. In March 1915, when she was almost out of coal and her engines were worn out, her captain attempted to have the ship interned by Chile at Robinson Crusoe Island. British cruisers violated Chilean neutrality and opened fire on the ship in the Battle of Más a Tierra and the Germans scuttled Dresden.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 4, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 4, 2020 is Joseph A. Lopez.
Joseph A. Lopez (October 4, 1779 – October 5, 1841) was a Mexican Catholic priest who became a prominent ally of Emperor Agustín de Iturbide. As a priest in Peribán, he tried to arrest the first leader of the Mexican War of Independence, Miguel Hidalgo. Unsuccessful, he fled and became acquainted with Ana María Huarte, the wife of the future emperor of Mexico, Agustín de Iturbide. As a result, he was sent to Madrid to act as Iturbide's attorney and political informant, before returning to Mexico as chaplain and educator of the imperial family. He fled with the exiled family to Europe in 1823, and then returned to Mexico. Following Iturbide's execution in 1824, Lopez fled with the family to Washington, D.C., where he became chaplain to the Georgetown Visitation Monastery, and became a Jesuit. In 1840, Lopez was named the acting president of Georgetown University, becoming the first Latin American president of a university in the United States. He soon fell ill and was sent to St. Inigoes, Maryland, where he died.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 3, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 3, 2020 is Antiochus XI Epiphanes.
Antiochus XI Epiphanes (died 93 BC) was a Seleucid monarch who reigned as King of Syria in 94–93 BC, during the Hellenistic period. He ruled at a time of civil war, waged by several claimants to the throne. At first a follower of his eldest brother Seleucus VI, Antiochus XI declared himself king jointly with his twin Philip I after Seleucus VI was killed in 94 BC by a cousin, Antiochus X. The twins destroyed the city of Mopsuestia, whose citizens played a part in Seleucus VI's death, then marched on the Syrian capital Antioch and expelled Antiochus X in 93 BC. Though unrecorded by ancient historians, the reign of Antiochus XI as a senior king in Antioch is confirmed through numismatic evidence (coin pictured). Philip I kept his royal title and remained in Cilicia. In the autumn of the same year, Antiochus X regrouped and counterattacked; Antiochus XI drowned in the Orontes River as he tried to flee.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 2, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 2, 2020 is Vermilion flycatcher.
The vermilion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus obscurus) is a tyrant flycatcher found in South America and southern North America. The male (pictured) has a bright red crown and underparts, and brownish wings and tail; females lack the red coloration. The male's chirpy song is used in establishing a territory in riparian or semi-open habitat. Its diet of insects are caught in flight. Although monogamous, females may lay their eggs in another pair's nest, and extra-pair copulation occurs. Females build cup nests and are fed by the male while they incubate the two to three speckled whitish eggs; two broods are laid in a season. Both parents feed the chicks, which are ready to fledge after fifteen days. A long molt begins in summer. The species was first described from specimens caught by Charles Darwin. The taxonomy of the genus was revised in 2016, creating several new species from this flycatcher's former subspecies. Populations have declined because of habitat loss, although numbers remain in the millions.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 1, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 1, 2020 is Rwandan Civil War.
The Rwandan Civil War was a conflict between the Hutu-led Rwandan Armed Forces and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), founded by Tutsi refugees. The war began on 1 October 1990 with an RPF invasion but the army, assisted by French troops, had largely defeated the RPF by the end of the month. Paul Kagame (pictured, left) took command of the rebels and in a few months began a multi-year guerrilla war. In 1992, after a series of protests, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana (pictured, right) began peace negotiations with the RPF and domestic opposition parties. Despite disruption by the extremist group Hutu Power and a fresh RPF offensive, the Arusha Accords were signed in August 1993. United Nations peacekeepers were installed, but Hutu Power was steadily gaining influence. After the assassination of Habyarimana in April 1994, between half a million and a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in the Rwandan genocide. The RPF quickly resumed the war, capturing the capital and taking control of the country by July.

Wikipedia article of the day for September 30, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 30, 2020 is Herbert Maryon.
Herbert Maryon (1874–1965) was an English sculptor, conservator, goldsmith, archaeologist and authority on ancient metalwork. Maryon was the first director of the Arts and Crafts–inspired Keswick School of Industrial Art, then taught at the universities of Reading and Durham until 1939. During this time he designed the University of Reading War Memorial, excavated one of the oldest gold artefacts in Britain, and authored the standard Metalwork and Enamelling. Maryon left retirement to join the British Museum, and is best known for his conservation work on the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, including restorations of the shield, the drinking horns, and the iconic Sutton Hoo helmet. In other work he restored a Roman helmet, coined the term pattern welding, and wrote a paper influencing a painting by Salvador Dalí. Maryon was appointed to the Order of the British Empire in 1956; asked by Queen Elizabeth II what he did, Maryon responded: "Well, Ma'am, I am a sort of back room boy at the British Museum."

Wikipedia article of the day for September 29, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 29, 2020 is Valston Hancock.
Valston Hancock (31 May 1907 – 29 September 1998) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). A graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Hancock transferred to the RAAF in 1929 and qualified as a pilot. After fifteen years of occupying staff and training posts, he saw combat in the Aitape–Wewak campaign of the Pacific War during 1945. Flying Bristol Beaufort light bombers, he led No. 100 Squadron, and later No. 71 Wing, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, Hancock became the inaugural commandant of RAAF College, followed by a succession of senior positions, before being promoted to air marshal and serving as Chief of the Air Staff from 1961 to 1965. He was knighted in 1962. In his role as the Air Force's senior officer, Hancock continued the policy of developing a chain of forward airfields in Northern Australia. He also evaluated potential replacements for the RAAF's English Electric Canberra bomber.

Wikipedia article of the day for September 28, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 28, 2020 is Rigel.
Rigel is a blue supergiant star in the constellation of Orion, approximately 860 light-years (260 pc) from Earth. It is the brightest and most massive component of a star system of at least four stars that appear as a single blue-white point of light to the naked eye. A star of spectral type B8Ia, Rigel is calculated to be anywhere from 61,500 to 363,000 times as luminous as the Sun, and 18 to 24 times as massive. Its radius is over 70 times that of the Sun, and its surface temperature is 12,100 K. Rigel varies slightly in brightness, its apparent magnitude ranging from 0.05 to 0.18. It is classified as an Alpha Cygni variable. It is generally the seventh-brightest star in the night sky and is usually the brightest star in Orion, though it is occasionally outshone by Betelgeuse. With an estimated age of 7 to 9 million years, Rigel has exhausted its core hydrogen fuel, expanded and cooled to become a supergiant. It will end its life as a type II supernova.