Wikipedia article of the day for March 19, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 19, 2021 is University of Washington station.
University of Washington is a light rail station located on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington, United States. The station is served by Sound Transit's Link light rail system and is the current northern terminus of Line 1. University of Washington station is located adjacent to Husky Stadium and the University of Washington Medical Center. It consists of an underground island platform connected to a surface entrance by elevators and escalators. A pedestrian bridge over Montlake Boulevard connects the station to the University of Washington campus, the Burke–Gilman Trail, and a set of bus stops served by King County Metro and Sound Transit Express routes. Light rail trains serve the station twenty hours a day on most days; the headway between trains is six minutes during peak periods with reduced frequency at other times. The station was built as part of the University Link Extension, which began construction in 2009 and opened on March 19, 2016.

Wikipedia article of the day for March 18, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 18, 2021 is Wells and Wellington affair.
The Wells and Wellington affair was a dispute involving the Australian Journal of Herpetology, a scientific journal on the study of amphibians and reptiles published beginning in 1981 by the Australian Herpetologists' League. Richard Wells, a student, served as the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed periodical, with an editorial board of three researchers. Wells stopped communicating with his board for two years before publishing three unreviewed papers in the journal in 1983 and 1985 which he coauthored with teacher C. Ross Wellington. The papers reorganized the taxonomy of Australia's and New Zealand's amphibians and reptiles, and proposed over 700 changes to their scientific names. The herpetological community brought a case to the ICZN to suppress the new names, but the commission eventually opted not to decide, leaving some of Wells and Wellington's names available. As of 2020, 24 of their specific names remained valid senior synonyms (example pictured).

Wikipedia article of the day for March 17, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 17, 2021 is O Captain! My Captain!.
"O Captain! My Captain!" is an extended-metaphor poem written by Walt Whitman in 1865 about the death of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln. Well received upon publication, the poem was Whitman's most popular during his lifetime. Whitman was employed by the federal government in Washington, D.C., through much of the Civil War, and, though he never met Lincoln, Whitman felt a connection to him and was greatly moved by his assassination. "My Captain" was first published in The Saturday Press on November 4, 1865, and appeared in Sequel to Drum-Taps later that year. He later included it in the collection Leaves of Grass and recited the poem at several lectures on Lincoln's death. Critical opinion has shifted since the mid-20th century, with scholars deriding its conventionality and unoriginality. In popular culture, the poem experienced renewed attention after it was featured in Dead Poets Society (1989), and is frequently associated with the star of that film, Robin Williams.

Wikipedia article of the day for March 16, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 16, 2021 is Zino's petrel.
Zino's petrel (Pterodroma madeira) is a species of small seabird, endemic to Madeira. This gadfly petrel is grey above with a dark "W" across the wings. The wings are mainly blackish below, and the belly is white. It is very similar in appearance to Fea's petrel, both being formerly considered to be subspecies of the soft-plumaged petrel, but Zino's was raised to a species on criteria including morphology and mitochondrial DNA. Its breeding areas are a few ledges high in the mountains of Madeira, where it nests in burrows which are visited only at night. The single white egg is incubated by both adults, one sitting while the other feeds on fish and squid at sea. This species is subject to predation by introduced cats and rats, and in the past by humans. Predator control and the removal of grazing animals has enabled the population to recover although it remains listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. There was a major setback in 2010 when fires killed three adults and 65 percent of the chicks.

Wikipedia article of the day for March 15, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 15, 2021 is Battle of Halmyros.
The Battle of Halmyros was fought on 15 March 1311 between the Frankish Duchy of Athens and the Catalan Company (seal depicted). The Catalans were mercenaries hired by the Byzantine emperor to combat the increasing power of the Turks in Anatolia. After the Byzantines murdered the Catalan leader, Roger de Flor, the company crossed the southern Balkans and arrived in southern Greece in 1309. The new Duke of Athens, Walter of Brienne, hired them to attack Thessaly. The Catalans conquered much of the region, but Walter refused to pay them and prepared to forcibly expel them. The two armies met at Halmyros in southern Thessaly. The Catalans positioned themselves behind marshy terrain, but the Franks, confident in the prowess of their heavy cavalry, charged headlong against the Catalan line. The marsh impeded their attack, and the Frankish army was routed. Walter and almost all of his knights fell in the field, allowing the Catalans to take over the Duchy of Athens and rule it until the 1380s.

Wikipedia article of the day for March 14, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 14, 2021 is Nasr of Granada.
Nasr (1287–1322) was the son of Muhammad II al-Faqih and the fourth Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Granada on the Iberian Peninsula. When he ascended the throne on 14 March 1309 after his brother Muhammad III was dethroned in a palace revolution, Granada faced a three-front war against Castile, Aragon and the Marinid Sultanate (map pictured). He made peace with all three over the following year with minimal losses. Despite this, Nasr was unpopular at court due to his excessive concentration on science and astronomy, and his perceived pro-Christian sympathies. A rebellion started by his brother-in-law Abu Said Faraj and nephew Ismail ended in Nasr's abdication in 1314 in favour of Ismail, now Ismail I. He was allowed to rule the eastern province of Guadix, and attempted – fruitlessly – to regain the throne with help from Castile. Nasr died without an heir in 1322.

Wikipedia article of the day for March 13, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 13, 2021 is Lewis and Clark Exposition gold dollar.
The Lewis and Clark Exposition gold dollar is a commemorative coin struck in 1904 and 1905 as part of the United States Government's participation in the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. That fair was held in 1905 in Portland, Oregon, to mark the centennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Designed by United States Bureau of the Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, the coin did not sell well with less than a tenth of the authorized mintage of 250,000. They were, for the most part, sold to the public by numismatic promoter Farran Zerbe, who had also vended the Louisiana Purchase Exposition gold dollar. As he was unable to sell much of the issue, surplus coins were melted by the Mint. The coins have continued to increase in value, and today are worth between hundreds and thousands of dollars, depending on condition. The Lewis and Clark Exposition dollar is the only American coin to be "two-headed", with a portrait of one of the expedition leaders on each side.