Wikipedia article of the day for November 1, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for November 1, 2020 is Typhoon Gay (1989).
Typhoon Gay was a small but powerful tropical cyclone that caused more than 800 fatalities in and around the Gulf of Thailand in November 1989. The worst typhoon to affect the Malay Peninsula in 35 years, Gay rapidly intensified from a monsoon trough, and on 3 November became the first typhoon since 1891 to make landfall in Thailand. It re-emerged into the Bay of Bengal and reorganized as it approached southeastern India. The typhoon moved ashore near Kavali, Andhra Pradesh, and dissipated over Maharashtra early on 10 November. The typhoon's rapid development took seafarers by surprise, leading to 275 offshore fatalities. Across the Malay Peninsula, 588 people died from various storm-related incidents and several towns were destroyed. Losses throughout Thailand totaled ฿11 billion (US$497 million). In India, Gay damaged or destroyed about 20,000 homes in Andhra Pradesh. It left 100,000 people homeless, caused 69 deaths, and was responsible for ₹410 million (US$25.3 million) in damage.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 31, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 31, 2020 is Bill Kibby.
Bill Kibby (15 April 1903 – 31 October 1942) was a British-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that could be awarded to a member of the Australian armed forces during World War II. In 1940, Kibby enlisted in the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force and joined the 2/48th Infantry Battalion. He was injured before the Siege of Tobruk, but was with the battalion during the First Battle of El Alamein in July 1942. In October, the battalion was committed to the Second Battle of El Alamein. Between 23 and 31 October, Kibby went forward alone and silenced an enemy machine gun post, mended a telephone line under heavy fire, and pressed forward under withering machine gun fire to help his company capture its objective. After this final action ultimately cost him his life, the Victoria Cross was awarded for his inspirational leadership.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 30, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 30, 2020 is European storm petrel.
The European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) is a small, square-tailed seabird with a fluttering flight. It is black except for a white rump and a white band under its wings. Most birds breed on islands off western Europe, with a separate subspecies occurring in the Mediterranean. The storm petrel lays a single white egg in a burrow. The adults share incubation and feeding the chick. This bird is oceanic outside the breeding season, wintering off the western coasts of Africa. It feeds on small fish, and can find oily edible items by smell. The chick is fed with an oily liquid regurgitated by the adults. Silent at sea, the storm petrel has a chattering call given during courtship, and the male has a purring song. The storm petrel cannot survive where rats or cats have been introduced, and it is killed by large birds such as gulls. It is classified by the IUCN as being of least concern. Folklore claiming that the bird can foretell or cause bad weather has led to its use as a symbol by some revolutionary groups.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 29, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 29, 2020 is Portrait of Mariana of Austria.
Portrait of Mariana of Austria is a 1652 or 1653 oil-on-canvas painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. Its subject, Dona Mariana (known as Maria Anna), was the daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III and Maria Anna of Spain, and was nineteen years old when the painting was completed. Although vivacious and fun-loving in life, she is given an unhappy expression in Velázquez's portrait. The painting is bathed in harmonious shades of black and red, and her face is heavily made up. Her right hand rests on the back of a chair, and she holds a lace handkerchief in her left hand. Her bodice is decorated with jewellery, including a gold necklace, bracelets and a large gold brooch. The clock placed on the scarlet drapery behind her indicates her status. Three full-length versions of the portrait survive, as well as a number of half-length variants. The version in the Museo del Prado (detail pictured) is known to be the original and is dated on the basis of a matching description of a canvas sent to Ferdinand in Vienna in December 1651.

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Tech chiefs plan a vigorous defense of speech on their sites.

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Watch live testimony of the chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter.

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Watch live testimony of the chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter.

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Tech chiefs plan a vigorous defense of speech on their sites.

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Evidence of anti-conservative bias by platforms remains anecdotal.

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Wikipedia article of the day for October 28, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 28, 2020 is Cetiosauriscus.
Cetiosauriscus was a sauropod dinosaur that lived between 166 and 164 million years ago, during the Middle Jurassic. It was a herbivore with a moderately long tail and long forelimbs, compared to other sauropods. It has been estimated at about 15 metres (49 ft) long and between 4 and 10 tonnes (3.9 and 9.8 long tons; 4.4 and 11.0 short tons) in weight. Its only known fossil includes a hindlimb and most of the rear half of a skeleton. Found in Cambridgeshire, England, in the 1890s, it was described by Arthur Smith Woodward in 1905 as a new specimen of the species Cetiosaurus leedsi, which was moved to the new genus Cetiosauriscus in 1927 by Friedrich von Huene. In 1980, Alan Charig proposed the current name Cetiosauriscus stewarti. The fossil was found in the marine deposits of the Oxford Clay Formation alongside many invertebrate groups, marine ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and crocodylians, a single pterosaur, and various dinosaurs, including an ankylosaur, stegosaurs, and an ornithopod.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 27, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 27, 2020 is History of the Wales national football team (1876–1976).
The first game in the history of the Wales national football team was in 1876, making Wales the third-oldest side in international association football, after Scotland and England. Wales played annual games against Scotland, England, and later Ireland, which became the British Home Championship. Wales won their first championship in the 1906–07 tournament, three more titles during the 1920s, and four in the six years prior to World War II. After the war, Wales played teams from other European nations and began competing in the FIFA World Cup, but failed to qualify in 1950 and 1954. Wales qualified in 1958, being defeated by Brazil in the quarter-final. The side declined in the 1960s, failing to qualify for a World Cup or the European Nations' Cup. Wales won their last British Championship during the 1969–70 season, before the competition was discontinued. Manager Mike Smith led the side to the quarter-finals of the 1976 European Championships in their centenary year, when they were defeated by Yugoslavia.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 26, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 26, 2020 is William T. Anderson.
William Anderson (1840 – October 26, 1864), known as "Bloody Bill" Anderson, was one of the deadliest pro-Confederate guerrilla leaders of the American Civil War, leading a band of volunteer partisans who targeted Union loyalists and federal soldiers in Missouri and Kansas. After his father was killed by a Union loyalist judge during the war, Anderson killed the judge and fled to Missouri where he robbed travelers and killed several Union soldiers. In 1863 he took a leading role in the Lawrence massacre and later participated in the Battle of Baxter Springs. By 1864 Anderson was the leader of a group of raiders in Missouri. In September 1864, he led a raid on the town of Centralia, where his men captured a passenger train; they executed 24 unarmed Union soldiers in the Centralia Massacre. Later that day they killed more than a hundred Union militiamen in an ambush. Anderson died in battle a month later.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 25, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 25, 2020 is Soultaker (film).
Soultaker is an American fantasy horror film written by Vivian Schilling and directed by Michael Rissi, released on October 26, 1990. It stars Joe Estevez in the title role, alongside Schilling, Gregg Thomsen, Chuck Williams, Robert Z'Dar, and David "Shark" Fralick. The film follows a group of young adults who try to flee from the Soultaker when their souls are ejected from their bodies after a car accident. Inspired by discussions with Action International Pictures producer Eric Parkinson, the script was based on a real-life car accident Schilling was involved in. The film was shot in five weeks on a $250,000 budget. Originally planned for a direct-to-video release, it saw limited theatrical screenings, with eight prints distributed in United States. Since its release, the film has received negative reviews, but won the Saturn Award for "Best Genre Video Release" in 1992. A sequel was planned but never made, and Schilling turned its premise into a novel titled Quietus, published in 2002. Soultaker was featured in the tenth-season premiere episode of the comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1999.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 24, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 24, 2020 is Super-Science Fiction.
Super-Science Fiction was an American digest science fiction magazine published from 1956 to 1959, edited by W. W. Scott and published by Feature Publications. Robert Silverberg and Harlan Ellison were already selling crime stories to Scott for his other magazines, Trapped and Guilty, and started bringing him scores of science fiction stories as well. Many of the magazine's stories were sent in by literary agents, and generally comprised material rejected by other magazines first, though Scott did obtain two stories from Isaac Asimov. After a couple of years Feature switched the focus to monster stories, hoping to cash in on the trend that was making Famous Monsters of Filmland a success at that time, and four more issues appeared before Super-Science Fiction was discontinued in 1959. The magazine is not highly regarded by critics, though Silverberg considers the material he wrote for Scott to have helped him learn his trade as a writer.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 23, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 23, 2020 is William Cragh.
William Cragh (born c. 1262, died after 1307) was a medieval Welsh warrior and supporter of Rhys ap Maredudd in his rebellion against King Edward I of England. Captured in 1290, Cragh was tried and found guilty of having killed thirteen men. He was hanged just outside Swansea twice, as the gallows collapsed during his first hanging. Signs of life were noticed the next day, and in a few weeks he had made a full recovery; he lived for at least another eighteen years. The main primary source for Cragh's story is the record of the investigation into the canonisation of Thomas de Cantilupe, which is held in the Vatican Library. Cragh's resurrection was one of thirty-eight miracles presented to the papal commissioners who in 1307 were charged with examining the evidence for Cantilupe's saintliness. The hanged man himself gave evidence to the commission, after which nothing more is known of him.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 22, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 22, 2020 is Battle of Goodenough Island.
The Battle of Goodenough Island was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought between 22 and 27 October 1942. Japanese forces had been stranded on Goodenough Island, Papua, during the Battle of Milne Bay. Aircraft and ships headed from Milne Bay to Buna and vice versa had to pass close to Goodenough Island, and a presence on the island could provide warning of enemy operations. The island also had flat areas suitable for the construction of emergency airstrips. The Allies attacked the island prior to the Buna campaign. A force consisting of the Australian 2/12th Battalion and attached units landed on the southern tip at Mud Bay and Taleba Bay on 22 October and, following a short but heavy fight, during which the Australians found it difficult to advance, the Japanese forces withdrew to Fergusson Island on 27 October. The island was developed by the Allies after the battle and became a major base for operations later in the war.

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Wikipedia article of the day for October 21, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 21, 2020 is Leech.
Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms of the subclass Hirudinea in the phylum Annelida. Like earthworms, they have soft, muscular, segmented bodies that can lengthen and contract, but the coelom, the body cavity that can be spacious in other annelids, is reduced to small channels, and they typically have suckers at both ends. Most leeches live in freshwater habitats, though some species can be found in terrestrial and marine environments. A minority of leech species prey on small invertebrates, but most are hematophagous, attaching themselves to a host with a sucker and feeding on blood. They were used in medicine from ancient times until the 19th century to draw blood from patients. In modern times, leeches have been used in microsurgery and in the treatment of extremity vein diseases and joint diseases such as epicondylitis and osteoarthritis. Hirudin, an anticoagulant drug they secrete, has been used to treat blood-clotting disorders.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 20, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 20, 2020 is Stucky (fandom).
Stucky is a term used to denote the pairing of Steve Rogers (Captain America) and James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes (the Winter Soldier), fictional characters appearing in comic books and related media produced by Marvel Comics. It is a manifestation of shipping, a phenomenon in fandom wherein individuals create fan works that depict a romantic or sexual relationship between two characters; Stucky is an example of slash, a genre of fan works that focus on same-sex characters. As per shipping naming conventions, Stucky is a portmanteau of "Steve" and "Bucky". Though Rogers and Barnes have appeared in media dating to the 1940s, Stucky fan works grew substantially in popularity in the 2010s following appearances by the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Critics and commentators have used the popularity of Stucky in fandom to remark on a range of topics, including the lack of LGBT characters in superhero films and the nature of fandom on social media.

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.

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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 15, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 15, 2020 is Master Chief (Halo).
Master Chief is a major character in the Halo multimedia franchise. First appearing in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, he is the playable character and protagonist of many of the games in the franchise, and makes additional appearances in spin-offs, novels, and comics. In the story, Master Chief is abducted as a child and raised by the military to fight against human rebels. He and his fellow Spartan supersoldiers instead become humanity's best weapon in the fight against a genocidal collective of alien races known as the Covenant. The character is voiced by Steve Downes. Master Chief was originally designed to be a faceless avatar whom players could inhabit while playing the games, but the relationship between him and his artificial intelligence companion Cortana has become a central part of the franchise. Master Chief serves as a mascot for the Xbox brand, and is an iconic character in gaming culture.

Wikipedia article of the day for October 14, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 14, 2020 is Eastern green mamba.
The eastern green mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps) is a highly venomous snake native to the coastal regions of southern East Africa. First described by Scottish surgeon and zoologist Andrew Smith in 1849, the mamba has a slender build with bright green upperparts and yellow-green underparts. The adult female averages around 2.0 metres (6.6 ft) in length, and the male is slightly smaller. A shy and elusive species, it is rarely seen; its green colouration blends with its arboreal environment. It has been observed to lie in wait like many vipers instead of actively foraging. The eastern green mamba preys on birds, eggs, bats, and rodents such as mice, rats, and gerbils. Its venom consists of both neurotoxins and cardiotoxins. Symptoms in humans can include swelling of the bite site, dizziness and nausea, accompanied by difficulty breathing and swallowing, irregular heartbeat and convulsions. The most severe bites can quickly be fatal.

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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.

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