Thursday, February 18, 2021

Wikipedia article of the day for February 19, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 19, 2021 is SS Mauna Loa.
SS Mauna Loa was a steam-powered cargo ship of the Matson Navigation Company that was sunk in the Bombing of Darwin in February 1942. Built in 1919 for the United States Shipping Board, she was christened West Conob and renamed Golden Eagle in 1928, sailing for a variety of owners. In 1934, she was taken over by the Matson Navigation Company for service between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland and renamed Mauna Loa. Shortly before the United States' entry into World War II, Mauna Loa was chartered by the United States Department of War to carry supplies to the Philippines. The ship was part of an aborted attempt to reinforce Allied forces under attack by the Japanese on Timor in mid-February 1942. After the return of her convoy to Darwin, Northern Territory, Mauna Loa was one of eight ships sunk in Darwin Harbour in the first Japanese bombing attack on the Australian mainland on 19 February. The remains of her wreck and her cargo are a dive site in the harbor.

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Wikipedia article of the day for February 18, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 18, 2021 is Meteorological history of Hurricane Dorian.
Hurricane Dorian was the strongest hurricane to affect the Bahamas, causing catastrophic damage in September 2019. Dorian originated from a tropical wave off the western coast of Africa on August 19 and became a tropical storm on August 24. It strengthened over the next few days and on August 27 made landfalls on Barbados and Saint Lucia before entering the Caribbean Sea, where it became a Category 1 hurricane as it moved over the United States Virgin Islands. Dorian achieved Category 5 intensity on September 1 and peak intensity with winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and a central pressure of 910 mbar (hPa; 26.87 inHg) while making landfall at Elbow Cay in the Bahamas. Weakening steadily throughout the next day, the storm's forward momentum slowed drastically while it was crossing over Grand Bahama. On September 6, Dorian made landfall at Cape Hatteras as a Category 2 hurricane. It transitioned into a post-tropical cyclone on September 7 just before passing over Nova Scotia and was absorbed by a larger extratropical cyclone on September 9.

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Wikipedia article of the day for February 17, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 17, 2021 is Planet of the Apes.
Planet of the Apes is an American science-fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. Based on French author Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel La Planète des singes, its 1968 film adaptation, Planet of the Apes, was a critical and commercial hit. From 1970 to 1973 four sequels followed the original film: Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes. They did not approach the critical acclaim of the original, but were commercially successful, spawning two television series in 1974 and 1975. Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes film was released in 2001. A reboot film series began in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was followed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 2014 and War for the Planet of the Apes in 2017. The films have grossed over $2 billion worldwide.

Monday, February 15, 2021

Wikipedia article of the day for February 16, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 16, 2021 is Dermotherium.
Dermotherium is a genus of fossil mammals closely related to the living colugos, a small group of gliding mammals from Southeast Asia. The two species are known from Thailand; D. major from the late Eocene, based on a fragment of the lower jaw, and D. chimaera from the late Oligocene from three jaw fragments and two molars. Another upper molar from the early Oligocene of Pakistan may be from a putative D. chimaera. The animals probably lived in forested environments, like living colugos, but whether they could glide is unknown. The fossil teeth differ from those of living colugo species (example pictured), and they lack their comblike dental features involving the lower incisors, canines, and third premolars. The fossil species differ from each other in their tooth structure. The front part of the lower chewing teeth, the trigonid, is broader in D. chimaera than in D. major.

Sunday, February 14, 2021

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.)

Saturday, February 13, 2021

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.

Friday, February 12, 2021

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.