Wikipedia article of the day for June 24, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 24, 2021 is New Rochelle 250th Anniversary half dollar.
The New Rochelle 250th Anniversary half dollar is a fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1937 as a commemorative coin to mark the 250th anniversary of the settling of New Rochelle in Westchester County, New York. The coin's obverse (pictured) depicts a fatted calf being led by John Pell, who sold the land on which New Rochelle now stands; a "fatt calfe" was to be presented to him annually on June 24 if he asked for it, lest New Rochelle's land be forfeited back to him. The other side shows a fleur-de-lis, an element of the city seal of New Rochelle and of France's La Rochelle, its eponym. The piece is dated 1938 but was minted the previous year. Artist Gertrude K. Lathrop designed the coin; she was hired based on her work on the 1936 Albany Charter half dollar. New Rochelle's coin committee sold the half dollar for $2.00 both locally and by mail order, sending them to all 48 states and internationally, distributing them during 1937 and early 1938. Lathrop's work has been both praised and criticized by numismatic commentators.

Wikipedia article of the day for June 23, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 23, 2021 is Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created and owned by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. In addition to video games, Sonic incorporates printed media, animations, a 2020 feature film, and merchandise. The first Sonic game, released for the Sega Genesis on June 23, 1991, was developed after Sega requested a mascot character to compete with Nintendo's mascot Mario. Sonic's success helped Sega become one of the leading video game companies during the fourth generation of video game consoles in the early 1990s. When Sega exited the console market and shifted to third-party development in 2001, it continued the series on Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation systems. Sonic the Hedgehog is Sega's flagship franchise and one of the bestselling video game franchises, having sold more than 140 million copies by 2016. Several Sonic games have been listed among the greatest of all time. Although later games, notably the 2006 series reboot, have been criticized for a perceived decline in quality, Sonic is influential in the video game industry and is frequently referenced in popular culture.

Wikipedia article of the day for June 22, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 22, 2021 is Discovery of nuclear fission.
Nuclear fission was discovered in December 1938 by physicists Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch, and chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann. Fission is a nuclear reaction and process of radioactive decay in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller, lighter nuclei. The fission process releases a very large amount of energy. The discovery that a nuclear chain reaction was possible led to the development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Hahn and Strassmann bombarded uranium with slow neutrons, and discovered that barium had been produced (illustration pictured). Meitner and her nephew Frisch theorised, and then proved, that the uranium nucleus had been split, and published their findings in Nature. Meitner calculated that the energy released by each disintegration was approximately 200 megaelectronvolts, and Frisch observed this. By analogy with the division of biological cells, Frisch named the process "fission". Hahn was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery.

Wikipedia article of the day for June 21, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 21, 2021 is The Thankful Poor.
The Thankful Poor is an 1894 painting by the African-American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner. It is a genre painting of two African Americans praying at a table and shares themes with Tanner's other works like The Banjo Lesson (1893). The painting is considered a milestone in African-American art, notably for its countering of racial stereotypes by portraying African-American culture in a dignified manner. This depiction was influenced by Tanner's father and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Despite its popularity with critics, The Thankful Poor was Tanner's last African-American genre work before he began to focus on biblical scenes. After remaining hidden for years, the painting was discovered in a storage closet of the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in 1970, before being purchased by Camille and Bill Cosby in 1981 for their private collection. In 2020, the painting was sold by the Cosbys to Art Bridges, a foundation created by Alice Walton for loaning artwork.

Wikipedia article of the day for June 20, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 20, 2021 is Pisco sour.
A pisco sour is a cocktail typical of South American cuisine. The drink's name is a combination of the word pisco, which is its base liquor, and the term sour, in reference to sour citrus juice and sweetener components. Chile and Peru both claim the pisco sour as their national drink, and each asserts exclusive ownership of both pisco and the cocktail. The Peruvian pisco sour uses Peruvian pisco as the base liquor and adds Key lime (or lemon) juice, syrup, ice, egg white, and Angostura bitters. The Chilean version is similar, but uses Chilean pisco and Pica lemon, and excludes the bitters and egg white. The cocktail was invented by Victor Vaughen Morris, an American bartender working in Peru in the early 1920s. In Chile, the invention of the drink is attributed to Elliot Stubb, an English ship steward, at a bar in the port city of Iquique in 1872, although the source for this attributed the invention of the whiskey sour to Stubb, not the pisco sour. The two kinds of pisco and the two variations in the style of preparing the pisco sour are distinct in both production and taste, and the pisco sour has become a significant and oft-debated topic of Latin American popular culture.

Wikipedia article of the day for June 19, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 19, 2021 is Rock martin.
The rock martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula) is a small swallow that is resident in central and southern Africa. It breeds in the mountains, and at lower levels in rocky areas and towns. It has mainly brown plumage and white "windows" on the spread tail. Its call is a soft twitter. The sexes are similar in appearance. The martin hunts along cliff faces for flying insects. It breeds under cliff overhangs or on man-made structures using mud pellets to build a bowl or half-bowl nest with a soft lining. The bird is a solitary breeder, but small groups may nest close together in suitable locations. A typical clutch has two to three eggs, which are white with brown and grey blotches. Both adults incubate the eggs for 16–19 days and feed the chicks. Fledging takes another 22–24 days. The small martin is caught in flight by several falcons, such as hobbies, but it faces no major threats. Because of its extensive range and large stable population, it is assessed as a least-concern species on the IUCN Red List. (This article is part of a featured topic: Crag martins.)

Wikipedia article of the day for June 18, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for June 18, 2021 is Five Go Down to the Sea?.
Five Go Down to the Sea? were an Irish post-punk band from Cork, active during 1978 to 1989. Vocalist and lyricist Finbarr Donnelly (pictured), guitarist Ricky Dineen and brothers Philip O'Connell (bass) and Keith O'Connell (drums) formed the band as Nun Attax when they were teenagers. They became known for Donnelly's absurdist lyrics and stage presence, Dineen's angular guitar and bass parts, and a rhythm section influenced by Captain Beefheart. After developing a following in Ireland in the early 1980s, they changed their name to "Five Go Down to the Sea?" and moved to London. They did not find commercial success and split up in 1985. Donnelly and Dineen reformed in 1988 as Beethoven, and released the EP Him Goolie Goolie Man, Dem the following year. Their reformation was short-lived, as Donnelly drowned on 18 June 1989, aged 27. The band's reputation has grown over time and they have influenced later generations of Irish musicians, especially a succession of dryly humorous Cork bands.