Wikipedia article of the day for July 29, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 29, 2021 is Andreas Palaiologos.
Andreas Palaiologos (1453–1502) was the elder son of Thomas Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea, and a nephew of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the final Byzantine emperor. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the Ottoman invasion of the Morea in 1460, Andreas's father fled to Corfu with his family. Upon his father's death in 1465, Andreas moved to Rome and was recognized as the titular Despot of the Morea and as the chief claimant to the ancient imperial throne. Although his father had never claimed the title, Andreas proclaimed himself "Emperor of Constantinople" from 1483 onwards, a claim that was supported by some of the Byzantine refugees who lived in Italy. Andreas traveled around Europe in search of a ruler who could aid him in retaking Constantinople, but rallied little support. In 1481 an expedition he started organizing to restore the Byzantine Empire was canceled. He died in poverty in Rome in 1502 and was buried in St. Peter's Basilica.

Wikipedia article of the day for July 28, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 28, 2021 is R. A. B. Mynors.
R. A. B. Mynors (28 July 1903 – 17 October 1989) was an English classicist and medievalist who held the senior chair of Latin at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He served as the Kennedy Professor of Latin at Cambridge from 1944 to 1953 and as the Corpus Christi Professor of Latin at Oxford from 1953 until his retirement in 1970. Mynors had the reputation of one of Britain's foremost classicists. A textual critic, he specialised in the study of manuscripts and their role in the reconstruction of classical texts. He was an expert on palaeography, and has been credited with unravelling a number of highly complex manuscript relationships. His publications include critical editions of Vergil, Catullus, and Pliny the Younger. In addition to receiving honorary degrees and fellowships from various institutions, Mynors was made a Knight Bachelor in 1963. He died in a car accident, aged 86. His comprehensive commentary on Vergil's Georgics was published posthumously.

Wikipedia article of the day for July 27, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 27, 2021 is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is a first-person shooter game, developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It is a remastered version of 2007's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It was initially released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows in November 2016 as part of special edition bundles of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The story follows the USMC and SAS in conflict against a Middle Eastern separatist group and a Russian ultranationalist group. The remaster began development as the result of an online petition. It features extensive technical enhancements while retaining the original core gameplay, and includes new single-player and multiplayer content. Critical reception was generally positive, with praise for the range of modifications and the simplistic but challenging gameplay. However, it was criticized for its balancing, narrative pacing, and artificial intelligence. The game was controversial for several business decisions made by Activision.

Wikipedia article of the day for July 26, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 26, 2021 is Siege of Calais (1346–1347).
The Battle of Caen on 26 July 1346 was an assault on the French-held town by a force of archers and men-at-arms, part of an invading English army under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War. This force, nominally commanded by the Earls of Warwick and Northampton, was eager for plunder, and attacked against orders, before the rest of their army was in position. Caen was garrisoned by 1,000–1,500 soldiers and a large number of armed townsmen, commanded by Grand Constable of France Raoul, the Count of Eu. The town was captured in the first assault; over 5,000 of the ordinary soldiers and townspeople were killed and a small number of nobles were taken prisoner. After sacking the town for five days, the army marched to the River Seine, and by 12 August they were 20 miles (32 kilometres) from Paris. After turning north they heavily defeated the French at the Battle of Crécy two weeks later, and commenced the successful siege of Calais the following week. (This article is part of a featured topic: Crécy campaign.)

Wikipedia article of the day for July 25, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 25, 2021 is Oryzomys dimidiatus.
Oryzomys dimidiatus, also known as the Nicaraguan oryzomys, Thomas's rice rat, or the Nicaraguan rice rat, is a rodent in the genus Oryzomys of the family Cricetidae. It is known from only three specimens, all collected in southeastern Nicaragua (range pictured) since 1904. Placed in Nectomys upon its discovery, it was later classified in its own subgenus of Oryzomys and finally recognized as closely related to other species now placed in Oryzomys, including the marsh rice rat and Oryzomys couesi, which occurs in the same region. With a head and body length of 118 to 128 mm (4.6 to 5.0 in), O. dimidiatus is a medium-sized rice rat. The upperparts are gray-brown and the underparts are grayish, not buffy as in O. couesi. The tail is only slightly darker above than below. All three specimens were caught near water and the species may be semiaquatic, spending some time in the water. There is currently not enough data to make a proper assessment of its conservation status. (This article is part of a featured topic: Oryzomys.)

Wikipedia article of the day for July 24, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 24, 2021 is The 1975 (2019 song).
"The 1975" is a song by the band of the same name and the first track on Notes on a Conditional Form (2020), their fourth album. In the song, Greta Thunberg (pictured) calls for civil disobedience in response to climate change, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Each of their three previous albums began with a track titled "The 1975" that used the same lyrics, beginning "Go down / Soft sound", but the lead vocalist Matty Healy thought it was important to give a platform to Thunberg, the "voice of this generation". After the recording in Stockholm, they released the song earlier than intended—on 24 July 2019. Proceeds from the song were donated to the grassroots environmental movement Extinction Rebellion, at Thunberg's request. The band opened encores at their performances with the song, before the COVID-19 pandemic halted their touring. It was received positively by music critics, many of whom praised the album's transition from the end of "The 1975" into the punk rock song "People".

Wikipedia article of the day for July 23, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 23, 2021 is Arthur Blackburn.
Arthur Blackburn (1892–1960) was an Australian soldier, lawyer, politician, and recipient of the Victoria Cross. Enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in 1914, he fought with his unit for most of the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, during which he was commissioned. On 23 July 1916, during the Battle of Pozières in France, he led four sorties to drive Germans from a strong point using hand grenades and captured 370 yards (340 m) of trench. He fought in the Battle of Mouquet Farm in August, then was evacuated to Australia due to illness. He served as a member of the South Australian parliament in 1918–1921. After the outbreak of World War II, Blackburn led the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion during the Syria–Lebanon campaign in 1941, personally accepting the surrender of Damascus. In early 1942, his battalion was deployed to Java in the Dutch East Indies. Captured by the Japanese, Blackburn spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. After the war, he served on the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration.