Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label article of the day

Wikipedia article of the day for January 24, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 24, 2018 is August Meyszner . August Meyszner (3 August 1886 – 24 January 1947) was an Austrian gendarmerie officer, right-wing politician, and senior Ordnungspolizei (order police) officer of Nazi Germany. He held the post of Higher SS and Police Leader in the German-occupied territory of Serbia from January 1942 to March 1944, during World War II. During his tenure, he oversaw regular reprisal killings and sent tens of thousands of forced labourers to Germany and occupied Norway. His Gestapo detachment also used a gas van to kill as many as 8,000 Jewish women and children who had been detained at the Sajmište concentration camp. Meyszner's time in Belgrade was characterised by friction and competition with German military, economic and foreign affairs officials, and by his visceral hatred and distrust of Serbs; he was considered one of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's most brutal subordinates. Extradited by the Allies to Yugosla

Wikipedia article of the day for January 23, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 23, 2018 is Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed . Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed is a painting by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1830. It shows a scene from the Histories by Herodotus, in which Candaules, king of Lydia, invites his bodyguard Gyges to hide in the couple's bedroom and watch his wife Nyssia undress. After Nyssia notices Gyges, he kills Candaules and takes his place as king. The painting shows the moment at which Nyssia, unaware of Gyges, removes the last of her clothes. Etty hoped to impart the moral that women are not chattels and that men violating their rights should be punished, but he made little effort to explain this to audiences. The painting was immediately controversial, seen as a cynical combination of pornography and a violent unpleasant narrative, and criti

Wikipedia article of the day for January 22, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 22, 2018 is S-50 (Manhattan Project) . The S-50 Project was the Manhattan Project's effort to produce enriched uranium by liquid thermal diffusion during World War II. The process was developed by Philip H. Abelson and other scientists at the United States Naval Research Laboratory, and was one of three technologies for uranium enrichment pursued by the Manhattan Project. Pilot plants were built at the Anacostia Naval Air Station and the Philadelphia Navy Yard. A facility at the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was the only production-scale liquid thermal diffusion plant ever built. It could not enrich uranium sufficiently for use in an atomic bomb, but it could begin the process of enrichment that was completed by the Y-12 calutrons and the K-25 gaseous diffusion plants. It sped up the production of enriched uranium for the Little Boy bomb used in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This plant ceased production in September

Wikipedia article of the day for January 21, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 21, 2018 is Saguaro National Park . Saguaro National Park is a United States national park in southeastern Arizona that preserves Sonoran Desert landscapes, fauna, and flora, including the giant saguaro cactus. The 92,000-acre (37,000 ha) park has two separate areas—the Tucson Mountain District (TMD) about 10 miles (16 km) west of the city of Tucson and the Rincon Mountain District about 10 miles (16 km) east of the city. The Rincon Mountains are part of the Madrean Sky Islands between the southern Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico; they are significantly higher and wetter than the Tucson Mountains, and support many plants and animals that do not live in the TMD. Earlier residents of and visitors to the lands in and around the park before its creation included the Hohokam, Sobaipuri, Tohono O'odham, and Apaches, as well as Spanish explorers, missionaries, miners, homesteaders, and ranchers. In 1933, President Herbe

Wikipedia article of the day for January 20, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 20, 2018 is Reg Pollard (general) . Reg Pollard (20 January 1903 – 9 March 1978) was a senior commander in the Australian Army, serving as Chief of the General Staff from 1960 to 1963. He was mentioned in despatches in 1941 after seeing action with the 7th Division in the Middle East. In 1942 he became senior staff officer of the division in New Guinea, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions. Pollard's early post-war roles involved recruit training, administration, and planning. In 1953 he took command of the Australian Army Component of the British Commonwealth Forces Korea. In 1957 he was promoted to lieutenant general and took charge of Eastern Command in Sydney. Knighted in 1961, he presided over the Army's reorganisation as Chief of the General Staff, and helped Royal Military College, Duntroon become a degree-granting institution. In 1962, he oversaw deployment of the first team of Australian military

Wikipedia article of the day for January 19, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 19, 2018 is Sonic Spinball . Sonic Spinball is a pinball video game developed by the Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega. It was originally released for the Mega Drive/Genesis in North America and Europe in November 1993 and in Japan the following month. It was later ported to the Game Gear and Master System in 1994 and 1995 respectively. The game has been re-released on eleven different consoles and has been included in Genesis-related compilations. The player controls Sonic the Hedgehog, who is manipulated like a pinball in various machine-like environments for most of the game, while the series antagonist Doctor Robotnik tries to enslave the population on the planet Mobius. Sonic Spinball was commissioned by Sega when it became clear that a new Sonic the Hedgehog game could not be completed in time for the 1993 holiday season, since the majority of their staff were developing Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The game was hastily develope

Wikipedia article of the day for January 18, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 18, 2018 is Cleopatra Selene of Syria . Cleopatra Selene (died 69 BC) was a queen of Seleucid Syria (83–69 BC). The daughter of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III of Egypt, she became the queen of Egypt in 115 BC when she was married to her brother, King Ptolemy IX, and later probably married King Ptolemy X. In 103 BC, Cleopatra III established an alliance with the Seleucid ruler Antiochus VIII; Cleopatra Selene was sent to be his bride, and stayed with him until his assassination in 96 BC. The widowed queen married her previous husband's brother, Antiochus IX, who died in 95 BC. She then married her stepson, Antiochus X, who probably died in 92 BC. She hid somewhere in Syria with her children until 83 BC, when the Seleucid thrones in Antioch and Damascus became vacant. Declaring her son Antiochus XIII king, she ruled alongside him, according to depictions on coins from the period. She was ousted when the people of Antioch and Damascus, exh

Wikipedia article of the day for January 17, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 17, 2018 is Eastbourne manslaughter . The Eastbourne manslaughter (R v Hopley) was an 1860 legal case in Eastbourne, England, about the death of a teenage pupil at the hands of his teacher, Thomas Hopley. Reginald Cancellor's parents gave Hopley permission to use corporal punishment to overcome what he perceived as the boy's stubbornness. After the boy died, the teacher insisted that the beating was justifiable and that he was not guilty of any crime. An inquest into Cancellor's death began when his brother requested an autopsy. As a result of the inquest Hopley was arrested and charged with manslaughter. He was found guilty at trial and sentenced to four years in prison. Hopley's conviction was upheld by the Court of King's Bench (Chief Justice Alexander Cockburn pictured), which said that a schoolmaster "may for the purpose of correcting what is evil in the child, inflict moderate and reasonable corporal punishmen

Wikipedia article of the day for January 16, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 16, 2018 is Illinois Centennial half dollar . The Illinois Centennial half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1918. The obverse side, depicting Abraham Lincoln, was designed by Chief Engraver George T. Morgan; the reverse image, based on the Seal of Illinois, was done by his assistant and successor, John R. Sinnock. Morgan's design is based on a statue by Andrew O'Connor. The State of Illinois asked for a commemorative to mark the centennial of its 1818 statehood. In 1918, after legislation was enacted, the two engravers produced designs, but Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo required changes, not all of which were made. The coins were minted in August 1918, and were sold to the public for one dollar each. Though many were held by a bank until 1933, all were sold, and profits were used to cover the cost of local centennial celebrations or to help those in need because of W

Wikipedia article of the day for January 15, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 15, 2018 is Ankylosaurus . Ankylosaurus was an armored dinosaur that lived roughly 67 million years ago, at the very end of the Cretaceous Period. This genus was among the last of the non-avian dinosaurs, living alongside Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Edmontosaurus. Its name means "fused lizard"; bones in its skull and other parts of its body were fused, increasing their strength. Ankylosaurus was up to 6.25 m (20.5 feet) long and 1.7 m (5.6 feet) tall, weighing about 4.8–8 tonnes (11,000–18,000 lb). It had a broad, robust body with a wide, low skull. The front parts of the jaws were covered in a beak, with rows of small, leaf-shaped teeth behind it, adapted for a herbivorous diet. It was covered in armor plates for protection against predators, with bony half-rings covering the neck, and had a large club on the end of its tail which may have been used as a weapon. Fossils from a few specimens of Ankylosaurus have been found in

Wikipedia article of the day for January 14, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 14, 2018 is California State Route 94 . State Route 94 (SR 94) is a 63.3-mile (101.9 km) highway in the U.S. state of California. The western portion, known as the Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway, begins at Interstate 5 (I-5) in downtown San Diego and continues to the end of the freeway portion past SR 125 in Spring Valley. The non-freeway segment of SR 94 that continues east through the mountains to I-8 near Boulevard is known as Campo Road. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, this section was a wagon road providing access to eastern San Diego County. The Campo road was often the only road through the Peninsular Ranges to stay open for the entire winter; other roads, at higher elevations, were closed due to snow, leading to increased traffic along this road. It was added to the state highway system in 1933, and signs for Route 94 were posted along local roads later that decade. Efforts to convert the western half of the route to a freeway

Wikipedia article of the day for January 13, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 13, 2018 is SMS Wittelsbach . SMS Wittelsbach (His Majesty's Ship Wittelsbach) was the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships, built for the German Imperial Navy. She was the first capital ship built under the Navy Law of 1898, which was brought about by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Wittelsbach was laid down in 1899 at the Wilhelmshaven Navy Dockyard and completed in October 1902, armed with a main battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) guns and with a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). During World War I the ship served in the IV Battle Squadron, with limited non-combat duty in the Baltic Sea, including during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915. By late 1915, crew shortages and the threat from British submarines forced the navy to withdraw older battleships like Wittelsbach. The ship then saw service in auxiliary roles, first as a training ship and then as a ship's tender. In 1919, after the war, she was conv

Wikipedia article of the day for January 12, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 12, 2018 is True Detective (season 1) . The first season of True Detective, an American anthology crime drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto, premiered on HBO on January 12, 2014, starring Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Potts, and Tory Kittles. The nonlinear narrative in eight episodes focuses on Louisiana State Police homicide detectives Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Harrelson) as they investigate the murder of prostitute Dora Lange in 1995. Seventeen years later, they must revisit the investigation, along with several other unsolved crimes. The first season explores themes of philosophical pessimism, masculinity, and Christianity; critics have analyzed the show's portrayal of women, its auteurist sensibility, and the influence of comics, weird fiction and horror fiction on its narrative. The episodes, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, were filmed in Louisiana. The series received

Wikipedia article of the day for January 11, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 11, 2018 is Rochdale Cenotaph . Rochdale Cenotaph is a First World War memorial on the Esplanade in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in the north west of England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it is one of seven memorials in England based on his Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, and one of his more ambitious designs. The memorial was unveiled in 1922 and consists of a 10-metre (33 ft) pylon, topped by an effigy of a recumbent soldier, and Lutyens' characteristic Stone of Remembrance. A public meeting in February 1919 established a consensus to create a monument and a fund for the families of wounded servicemen. The meeting agreed to commission Lutyens to design the monument. His design for a bridge over the River Roch was abandoned after a local dignitary purchased a plot of land adjacent to Rochdale Town Hall and donated it for the site of the memorial. Lutyens revised his design, and Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, unveiled the memor

Wikipedia article of the day for January 10, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 10, 2018 is Hrithik Roshan . Hrithik Roshan (born 10 January 1974) is an Indian Bollywood actor. His first leading role was in his father Rakesh's Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), a box-office success that earned him several awards. After a series of unsuccessful films, he starred in the 2003 science fiction film Koi... Mil Gaya, which proved a turning point in his career; he also appeared in its highly successful sequels: Krrish (2006) and Krrish 3 (2013). Roshan earned widespread praise for his roles in Dhoom 2 (2006), Jodhaa Akbar (2008) and Guzaarish (2010). Further success came with the 2011 drama Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, the 2012 revenge film Agneepath, and Bang Bang!, a 2014 action comedy. One of the highest-paid actors in India, he has won many awards, including six Filmfares. He has also performed on stage, launched his own clothing line and debuted on television with Just Dance (2011). As a judge on the show, he became the highe

Wikipedia article of the day for January 9, 2018

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 9, 2018 is Der 100. Psalm . Der 100. Psalm (The 100th Psalm), Op. 106, is a composition in four movements by Max Reger in D major for mixed choir and orchestra, a late Romantic setting of Psalm 100. Reger began composing the work in 1908 for the 350th anniversary of Jena University. It premiered simultaneously on 23 February 1910 in Chemnitz, conducted by the composer, and in Breslau, conducted by Georg Dohrn. Reger structured the text in four movements, as a choral symphony. He scored it for a choir of four to eight voices, a large symphony orchestra, and organ. Reger used late-Romantic features of harmony and dynamics, along with polyphony in the Baroque tradition. The last movement is a double fugue, with an instrumental cantus firmus of Luther's chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" as its climax. The biographer Eugen Segnitz considered the work unique in the sacred music of its period, with a convincing musical interpre