The Wikipedia article of the day for May 11, 2016 is Assassination of Spencer Perceval.
On 11 May 1812, Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was shot and killed in the lobby of the House of Commons in London. His assailant, John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant, was tried and convicted, and on 18 May was hanged at Newgate Prison. Despite initial fears that the assassination might be linked to a general uprising, Bellingham had in fact acted alone, as a protest against the government’s failure to compensate him for his imprisonment in Russia for a trading debt. After Perceval’s death, parliament made generous provision to his widow and children, but his ministry was soon forgotten and his policies reversed. He had led the Tory government during a critical phase of the Napoleonic Wars, and his determination to prosecute the war using the harshest of measures had caused widespread poverty and unrest. He is generally better known for the manner of his death than for any of his achievements. Later historians have characterised Bellingham’s hasty trial and execution as contrary to the principles of justice.
Archives for May 2016
Wikipedia article of the day for May 11, 2016
Wikipedia article of the day for May 10, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 10, 2016 is How a Mosquito Operates.
How a Mosquito Operates (1912) is a silent animated film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. The six-minute short, about a giant mosquito tormenting a dozing man who tries in vain to shoo it away, is one of the earliest works of animation. It is considered far ahead of its contemporaries in its technical quality. McCay had a reputation for his proficiency as a cartoonist, exemplified in the children’s comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. He delved into the infant art of animation with the 1911 film Little Nemo, and followed its success by adapting an episode of his comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend into How a Mosquito Operates. McCay gives the animation naturalistic timing, motion, and weight, and displays a more coherent story and developed character than in Little Nemo. The film was enthusiastically received when McCay first unveiled it during a chalk talk (a vaudeville act with drawings) and in a theatrical release that soon followed. In 1914 McCay further developed his character animation style in his best-known animated work, Gertie the Dinosaur.
Wikipedia article of the day for May 9, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 9, 2016 is 2007 Atlantic hurricane season.
The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season was unusually active, with 17 tropical cyclones, 15 tropical storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The first named storm, Subtropical Storm Andrea, developed on May 9, and the last, Tropical Storm Olga, dissipated on December 13. The season was one of only four on record with more than one Category 5 hurricane, Dean and Felix. Tied for the seventh most intense Atlantic hurricane of all time, Dean hit Mexico as the third most intense Atlantic hurricane at landfall. Felix also made landfall at Category 5 intensity, in Central America. None of the season’s other hurricanes exceeded Category 1. Five cyclones made landfall in the US: Hurricane Humberto, Tropical Storm Gabrielle, and three tropical depressions. Three storms directly affected Canada, although none severely. The combined storms killed at least 423 people and caused about $3 billion in damage. The names Dean, Felix and Noel were later retired from the list of Atlantic tropical storm names.
Wikipedia article of the day for May 8, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 8, 2016 is Music for a Time of War.
Music for a Time of War is a 2011 Oregon Symphony concert recording of four compositions: Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question (1906), John Adams’ The Wound-Dresser (1989), Benjamin Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem (1940) and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 4 (1935). The program was performed on May 7 and May 8 under the artistic direction of Carlos Kalmar at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (pictured) in Portland, Oregon, and again on May 12 at Carnegie Hall. A concert album, the orchestra’s first in eight years, was released five months later on CD by Dutch record label PentaTone Classics. The live performances and album received favorable reviews; the recording debuted at number 31 on Billboard’s Classical Albums chart, and made several lists of the best classical recordings of 2011. The album earned two nominations from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the 2013 Grammy Awards, and producer Blanton Alspaugh received the Grammy for Producer of the Year, Classical, for his contributions to this and other recordings.
Wikipedia article of the day for May 7, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 7, 2016 is American Pharoah.
American Pharoah (foaled February 2, 2012) is a Thoroughbred racehorse who in 2015 became the 12th American Triple Crown winner, and the first since Affirmed in 1978. He also became the only horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic along with all three Triple Crown races—the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. He was bred and owned throughout his racing career by Ahmed Zayat’s Zayat Stables, trained by Bob Baffert, and ridden in most of his races by Victor Espinoza. After the Belmont, he easily won the Haskell Invitational on August 2. On August 29, he finished a close second at Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, snapping a winning streak of eight races. After a layoff of two months, he shipped to Keeneland for the 2015 Breeders’ Cup and contended in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, where he challenged older horses for the first time and won by 6 1⁄2 lengths, breaking the track record. He was retired at the conclusion of his 2015 racing year and now stands at stud at Ashford Stud in Kentucky.
Wikipedia article of the day for May 6, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 6, 2016 is Russula virescens.
Russula virescens is a fungus that produces a mushroom commonly known as the green-cracking Russula. It has a distinctive pale green cap up to 15 cm (6 in) wide, with a surface covered with angular patches in a darker green. It has white gills and a firm white stalk up to 8 cm (3 in) tall and 4 cm (1.6 in) thick. With a taste that is variously described as mild, nutty, fruity, or sweet, it is regarded as one of the best edible mushrooms of the genus Russula. Popular in Spain and China, it can be grilled, fried, sautéed, or eaten raw. The species fruits singly or scattered on the ground in both deciduous and mixed forests, and is symbiotic with roots of broadleaf trees such as oak, European beech, aspen, and some Asian lowland rainforest trees of the family Dipterocarpaceae. First described in 1774 by Jacob Christian Schaeffer, the species is native to Asia, North Africa, Europe, Central America, and possibly North America. The mushroom contains a unique laccase enzyme that can break down various dyes in laboratory and textile wastewater.
Wikipedia article of the day for May 5, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 5, 2016 is Capon Lake Whipple Truss Bridge.
The Capon Lake Whipple Truss Bridge is a historic bridge across the Cacapon River in Capon Lake, West Virginia. The bridge’s Whipple truss technology was developed by civil engineer Squire Whipple in 1847, and modified by J. W. Murphy in 1859 to include pinned eyebar connections. The bridge is West Virginia’s oldest remaining Whipple truss bridge and its oldest intact metal truss bridge. The structure was originally built in a different location in 1874 as part of a larger two-span bridge conveying the Northwestern Turnpike across the South Branch Potomac River near Romney. When a new bridge was constructed at this site in 1937, the old bridge was dismantled and relocated to the current site in Capon Lake in southeastern Hampshire County to carry Capon Springs Road between West Virginia Route 259 and Capon Springs. The bridge was dedicated on August 20, 1938. In 1991 a new bridge was completed to the south, and the existing bridge was preserved in place by the West Virginia Division of Highways, due to its rarity, age, and engineering significance. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Wikipedia article of the day for May 4, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 4, 2016 is Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier.
Two Shōkaku-class aircraft carriers, Shōkaku and Zuikaku, were commissioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. They participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean Raid, and the battles of the Coral Sea, the Eastern Solomons, and the Santa Cruz Islands. Their air groups sank two of the four fleet carriers lost by the United States Navy during the war in addition to one elderly British light carrier. Returning to Japan after the Battle of the Coral Sea to repair damage and replace lost aircraft, they missed the Battle of Midway in June 1942. After the catastrophic loss of four carriers during that battle, they formed the bulk of Japan’s carrier force for the rest of the war. Shōkaku was sunk by an American submarine during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 as the Americans invaded the Mariana Islands, and Zuikaku was sacrificed as part of a decoy force four months later in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, both with heavy loss of life. Historian Mark Peattie called them “arguably the best aircraft carriers” of the early 1940s.
Wikipedia article of the day for May 3, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 3, 2016 is The Carpet from Bagdad.
The Carpet from Bagdad is a 1915 American silent adventure film directed by Colin Campbell and based on Harold MacGrath’s 1911 novel of the same name. In the story, Horace Wadsworth (played by Guy Oliver), one of a gang of criminals planning a bank robbery in New York, steals a prayer rug from a Baghdad mosque. He sells the carpet to antique dealer George Jones (Wheeler Oakman) to fund the robbery scheme. The carpet’s guardian kidnaps both men and Fortune Chedsoye (Kathlyn Williams), the innocent daughter of another conspirator, but they escape. Marketing for the film included a media tour of part of the set and an invitation-only screening sponsored by the publisher of MacGrath’s book. The Carpet from Bagdad was released on 3 May 1915 to mostly positive reviews. Many praised the tinted desert scenes and realistic Middle East imagery, although some felt the scenery overshadowed the characters. The film is now lost, except for one badly damaged reel salvaged from the RMS Lusitania in 1982. Images from several feet of the reel were recovered by the British Film Institute’s National Archive.
Wikipedia article of the day for May 2, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 2, 2016 is Noisy miner.
The noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala) is a bird native to eastern and south-eastern Australia in the honeyeater family. It is grey with a black head, orange-yellow beak and feet, a distinctive yellow patch behind the eye and white tips on the tail feathers. Its almost constant vocalizations, particularly from young birds, include a large range of calls, scoldings and alarms. Primarily inhabiting dry, open eucalypt forests without understory shrubs, noisy miners are gregarious and territorial; they forage, bathe, roost, breed and defend territory communally, forming colonies of up to several hundred birds. Birds that live close to each other form stable associations called coteries. Temporary flocks are formed for activities such as mobbing a predator. The noisy miner is an aggressive bird, chasing, pecking, fighting, scolding, and mobbing both intruders and colony members throughout the day. The bird’s numbers have increased significantly in many locations across its range, particularly in human-dominated habitats in which avian diversity has decreased.
