Wikipedia article of the day for February 15, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 15, 2021 is Silesian Wars.
The Silesian Wars were a series of three wars fought between Prussia (under King Frederick the Great) and Austria (under Archduchess Maria Theresa) for control of the Central European region of Silesia (now in south-west Poland). The First (1740–1742) and Second Silesian Wars (1744–1745) formed parts of the War of the Austrian Succession, in which Prussia was one member of an anti-Austrian coalition. The Third Silesian War (1756–1763) was one theatre of the global Seven Years' War, in which Austria led a coalition aiming to seize Prussian territory. All three ended in Prussian victories, and their overall territorial result was Austria's cession of the majority of Silesia to Prussia, which emerged from the Silesian Wars as a new European great power. Austria's defeat by a lesser German power significantly damaged its prestige. The conflict foreshadowed a century-long Austria–Prussia rivalry for hegemony over the German-speaking peoples. (This article is part of a featured topic: Silesian Wars.)

Wikipedia article of the day for February 14, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 14, 2021 is Heaven Upside Down.
Heaven Upside Down is the tenth studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson, released on October 6, 2017. The record was initially scheduled to be issued on Valentine's Day, but was delayed by the death of the father of lead singer Marilyn Manson (pictured). It features many of the musicians who performed on previous album The Pale Emperor, including producer Tyler Bates. "We Know Where You Fucking Live" and "Kill4Me" were issued as singles; the latter was their highest-peaking entry on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Chart. Music videos for the album featured Johnny Depp, Courtney Love, and Lisa Marie Presley. The record received positive reviews, with multiple publications saying it continued a creative resurgence that began with The Pale Emperor. It was also a commercial success, debuting in the top ten of the Billboard 200. To promote the album, the band embarked on the Heaven Upside Down Tour as well as two co-headlining tours with Rob Zombie.

Wikipedia article of the day for February 13, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 13, 2021 is Saturn (magazine).
Saturn was an American magazine published from 1957 to 1965. It was launched as a science-fiction magazine, but sales were weak, and after five issues the publisher, Robert C. Sproul, switched the magazine to hardboiled detective fiction that emphasized sex and sadism. Sproul renamed the magazine several times, settling on Web Terror Stories in 1962, and the contents became mostly weird-menace tales—a genre in which apparently supernatural powers are revealed to have a logical explanation at the end of the story. Donald A. Wollheim was the editor for the first five issues; he published material by several well-known authors, including Robert A. Heinlein, H. P. Lovecraft, and Harlan Ellison, but was given a low budget and could not always find good-quality stories. It is not known who edited the magazine after the science fiction issues, but themes of violence, torture and sex continued to the end of the magazine's run. Sproul finally cancelled the title in 1965 after a total of 27 issues.

Wikipedia article of the day for February 12, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 12, 2021 is Grant Memorial coinage.
The Grant Memorial gold dollar and silver half dollar were struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1922 in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant, a leading Union general during the Civil War and later the 18th president of the United States. The two coins are identical in design and were sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser. The Ulysses S. Grant Centenary Memorial Association wanted to sell 200,000 gold dollars to pay for projects in the areas of Grant's birthplace and boyhood home. Congress authorized 250,000 half dollars, but only 10,000 gold dollars. About 5,000 of each denomination were struck with a special mark, a star (example pictured). All of the gold dollars and most of the half dollars sold. The half dollar with star has long been priced higher than most commemoratives; its rarity has also caused it to be counterfeited. Money from the coins was used to help preserve Grant's birthplace, but other planned projects were not completed.

Wikipedia article of the day for February 11, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 11, 2021 is Bernard A. Maguire.
Bernard A. Maguire (February 11, 1818 – April 26, 1886) was a Catholic priest and Jesuit who twice served as the president of Georgetown University. Maguire emigrated with his family from Ireland to Maryland at the age of six, where he studied under the Jesuits at Saint John's College, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1837. He then continued his education at Georgetown University, where he eventually became a teacher and prefect. As prefect, Maguire was responsible for quelling an uprising of 40 students who were unhappy with rules over the meeting times of the Philodemic Society. In 1852, he became the president of Georgetown University, and oversaw the partial separation of the preparatory division from the college. He left in 1858 to do pastoral work, but returned as president in 1866. Maguire directed the university's rebuilding after the Civil War and the establishment of the law school. His tenure ended in 1870, and he spent the rest of his life in pastoral ministry.

Wikipedia article of the day for February 10, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 10, 2021 is Operation PBHistory.
Operation PBHistory was a covert operation carried out in Guatemala by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. It followed Operation PBSuccess, which led to the overthrow of Guatemalan president Jacobo Árbenz (pictured) in June 1954 and ended the Guatemalan Revolution. PBHistory attempted to use documents left behind by Árbenz's government, police agencies, trade unions and the communist Guatemalan Party of Labour to demonstrate that the Guatemalan government had been under the influence of the Soviet Union. The documents uncovered by the operation proved useful to the Guatemalan intelligence agencies, enabling the creation of a register of suspected communists. The operation did not find evidence that the Guatemalan communists were controlled by the Soviet government, and could not counter the narrative that the United States had toppled the Árbenz government to serve the interests of the United Fruit Company.

Wikipedia article of the day for February 9, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 9, 2021 is Apollo 14.
Apollo 14 (January 31 – February 9, 1971) was the eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. Commander Alan Shepard (pictured), Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell overcame a series of malfunctions en route to the Moon that, after the failure of Apollo 13, might have resulted in a second consecutive aborted mission, and possibly the premature end of the Apollo program. Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro formation, where they undertook two extravehicular activities (EVAs or moonwalks). In Apollo 14's most famous incident, Shepard hit two golf balls he had brought with him with a makeshift club. Roosa remained in lunar orbit, where he took photographs of the Moon and performed experiments. After liftoff from the surface and a successful docking, the mission returned to Earth, splashing down safely in the Pacific Ocean.