Wikipedia article of the day for September 26, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 26, 2021 is British nuclear tests at Maralinga.
British nuclear tests were conducted at Maralinga in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia between 1956 and 1963. A total of seven major nuclear tests took place at Maralinga, with explosive yields ranging from approximately 1 to 27 kilotonnes of TNT (4 to 110 terajoules). Two major test series were conducted: Operation Buffalo (final test pictured) in 1956 and Operation Antler the following year. One bomb used cobalt pellets as a tracer for determining yield, resulting in rumours that Britain was developing a cobalt bomb. The site was also used for trials of neutron initiators and tests on the compression of nuclear weapon cores and the effects of fire on atomic weapons. It was left contaminated with radioactive waste, and a clean-up was attempted in 1967. A further clean-up was completed in 2000. In 1994, the Australian government paid $13.5 million in compensation to the traditional owners, the Maralinga Tjarutja people. The land was restored to them in 2014.

Wikipedia article of the day for September 25, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 25, 2021 is Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots.
Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots is an 1832 book by Edward Lear containing 42 hand-coloured lithographs (example pictured). Lear started painting parrots for the book in 1830 when he was 18 years old, and to get material for his book he studied live birds at the London Zoo and in private collections. Although the book was a financial failure, Lear's paintings of parrots established his reputation as one of the best natural history artists of his time. It found him work with leading contemporary naturalists, and the young Queen Victoria engaged him to help her with her painting technique. Lear's works influenced children's illustrators such as Beatrix Potter and Maurice Sendak. He continued with his nature painting for some years, but from about 1835 he became concerned about his failing eyesight, and increasingly concentrated on his nonsense works and landscape painting. He may have contributed to the illustrations for Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle.

Wikipedia article of the day for September 24, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 24, 2021 is Star Control 3.
Star Control 3 is an action-adventure game developed by Legend Entertainment and published by Accolade. The third and final official entry in the Star Control trilogy, the game was released for MS-DOS on September 24, 1996, and Mac OS in 1998. It features a single-player campaign combining space exploration, alien dialogue, and ship-to-ship combat; the player engages in top-down battles between starships with unique abilities. To create this sequel, Accolade hired Legend (president pictured) after series creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford decided to pursue other projects. Legend was selected for their familiarity with Star Control and experience with interactive fiction writing. They designed the game in consultation with fans, replacing features from Star Control II that had received negative feedback. Star Control 3 was considered a critical and commercial success upon release, but later suffered from comparisons to the award-winning Star Control II.

Wikipedia article of the day for September 23, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 23, 2021 is Turf Moor.
Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional football. The stadium is situated on Harry Potts Way, named after the manager who won the 1959–60 First Division with the club, and has a capacity of 21,944. The Turf Moor site has been used for sporting activities since at least 1843, when Burnley Cricket Club moved to the area. In 1883, they invited Burnley F.C. to use a pitch adjacent to the cricket field. A grandstand and terraces were added in 1885. During the 1990s, the Longside and the Bee Hole End terraces were replaced by all-seater stands following the recommendations of the Taylor Report. The stadium's record attendance was set in 1924, when 54,775 people attended an FA Cup third round game between Burnley and Huddersfield Town.

Wikipedia article of the day for September 22, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 22, 2021 is The Triumph of Cleopatra.
The Triumph of Cleopatra is an oil painting by the English artist William Etty, depicting a scene from Plutarch's Life of Antony and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, in which Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, voyages to Tarsus to cement an alliance with the Roman general Mark Antony. The painting shows a large group of people in various states of nudity, watching her ship's arrival. First exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1821, the painting was an immediate success and made the then-obscure Etty famous almost overnight. Although some commentators considered it offensive and indecent, the painting's success prompted Etty to spend the next decade painting further history paintings containing nude figures, becoming well known for combining these with moral messages.

Wikipedia article of the day for September 21, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 21, 2021 is Banksia sceptrum.
Banksia sceptrum, the sceptre banksia, is a plant that grows in Western Australia near the central west coast from Geraldton north through Kalbarri to Hamelin Pool, extending inland almost to Mullewa. It is generally a shrub up to 4 m (13 ft) in diameter and 2–4 m (7–13 ft) high, sometimes reaching 5 m (16 ft). First collected and grown by early settler James Drummond in Western Australia, it was described by Swiss botanist Carl Meissner in 1855. In nature, B. sceptrum grows in deep yellow or pale red sand in tall shrubland, commonly on dunes. It is killed in bushfires and regenerates by seed, the woody follicles opening with fire. B. sceptrum is one of the most striking yellow-flowered banksias, with tall bright flower spikes (inflorescences) that are well displayed on the ends of branches. Flowering is in summer, mainly December and January, though flowers are occasionally seen at other times.

Wikipedia article of the day for September 20, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 20, 2021 is William IV.
William IV (1765–1837) was King of Britain and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death on 20 June 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain's House of Hanover. William served in the Royal Navy in his youth, and was later nicknamed the "Sailor King". As his two older brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, he inherited the throne when he was 64 years old. His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all of the British Empire, and the British electoral system refashioned by the Reform Act 1832. Although William did not engage in politics during his reign as much as earlier kings, he was the last British monarch to appoint a prime minister against the will of Parliament. He granted his German kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution. William was succeeded by his niece Victoria in Britain and his brother Ernest Augustus in Hanover.