The Wikipedia article of the day for March 21, 2017 is Neal Dow.
Neal Dow (March 20, 1804 – October 2, 1897) was an American prohibition advocate and politician. He was elected president of the Maine Temperance Union in 1850, and mayor of Portland the next year. Soon after, largely due to his efforts, the state legislature banned the sale and production of alcohol in what became known as the Maine Law. As mayor, Dow enforced the law with vigor and called for increasingly harsh penalties for violators. In 1855, his opponents rioted and he ordered the state militia to fire on the crowd. One man was killed and several were wounded. After public reaction to the violence turned against him, he chose not to run again for mayor. He was later elected to two terms in the state legislature, but retired after a financial scandal. He joined the Union Army shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 and became a brigadier general. He was wounded at the siege of Port Hudson and later captured. After being exchanged for another officer in 1864, Dow resigned from the military and devoted himself once more to prohibition. In 1880, he headed the Prohibition Party ticket for President of the United States.
Archives for March 2017
Wikipedia article of the day for March 21, 2017
Wikipedia article of the day for March 20, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for March 20, 2017 is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and the Take-Two Interactive division 2K Games. Oblivion was released on March 20, 2006, for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360, and later for mobile phones and PlayStation 3. In the main storyline, the player character thwarts the fanatical Mythic Dawn cult from opening the gates to a realm called Oblivion. The player can travel anywhere in the game world at any time, develop the character’s skills, and ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely. The graphics were designed with an improved Havok physics engine, high dynamic range lighting, and procedural content generation tools to generate terrain. The Radiant A.I. system manages the complex behaviors of the non-player characters (NPCs). The game features the music of award-winning composer Jeremy Soule. Overall, Oblivion has been successful both commercially and critically, winning industry and publication awards. It was praised for its graphics, expansive game world, and fully voiced, schedule-driven NPCs.
Wikipedia article of the day for March 19, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for March 19, 2017 is Seri Rambai.
The Seri Rambai is a 17th-century Dutch cannon displayed at Fort Cornwallis in George Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site city and capital of the Malaysian state of Penang. It is a fertility symbol, the subject of legends and prophecy, and the largest bronze gun in Malaysia. The cannon’s history in the Malacca Straits began in the early 1600s when Dutch East India Company officers gave it to the Sultan of Johor in return for trading concessions. Less than a decade later, after Johor was destroyed and the sultan captured, the Seri Rambai was taken to Aceh. Near the end of the eighteenth century the cannon was sent to Selangor and mounted next to one of the town’s hilltop forts. In 1871 pirates seized a Penang junk, murdered its passengers and crew, and took the stolen vessel to Selangor. The British colonial government responded by burning the town, destroying its forts and confiscating the Seri Rambai. Originally displayed on Penang’s Esplanade, the gun was moved in the 1950s to the ramparts at Fort Cornwallis.
Wikipedia article of the day for March 18, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for March 18, 2017 is Rosetta Stone.
The Rosetta Stone is a large black stone stele bearing a translation of Ancient Egyptian text, the first recovered in modern times. Found in 1799, it is inscribed with three versions of a decree from 196 BC announcing the rule of King Ptolemy V. The texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic script and Demotic script and in Ancient Greek. The stone proved to be the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. It was taken from building material in Fort Julien near the town of Rashid (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta when it was rediscovered during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. After British troops defeated the French in Egypt in 1801, they seized the stone and transported it to London. It has been on public display at the British Museum since 1802, and is the museum’s most-visited object. Since its rediscovery, the stone has been the focus of nationalist rivalries, including a long-running dispute over the relative value of Thomas Young’s and Jean-François Champollion’s contributions to the decipherment, and demands this century for the stone’s return to Egypt.
Wikipedia article of the day for March 17, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for March 17, 2017 is George Bernard Shaw.
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was an Irish playwright and critic who had a major influence on Western theatre, culture and politics. He was born in Dublin and moved to London in 1876 as a struggling writer and novelist. His first stage success was Arms and the Man in 1894; under the influence of Henrik Ibsen he brought a new realism into English-language drama, using his plays as vehicles to disseminate his often contentious political, social and religious ideas. He became a member of the gradualist Fabian Society, was a socialist pamphleteer and polemicist for over 50 years, and was instrumental in the foundation of the modern Labour Party. Many of his plays were critical and commercial successes, including Caesar and Cleopatra (1898), Man and Superman (1903), Major Barbara (1905), The Doctor’s Dilemma (1906), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). He was regarded as the leading dramatist of his generation, and was awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote prolifically until shortly before his death, aged 94.
Wikipedia article of the day for March 16, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for March 16, 2017 is Powderfinger.
Powderfinger, an Australian rock band, formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 to 2010 the lineup consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bass guitarist John Collins and drummer Jon Coghill. The group’s third studio album, Internationalist, peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in September 1998. Their next studio album, Odyssey Number Five, reached number one in September 2000 and was certified eight times platinum, shipping over 560,000 units. Their next three studio albums also reached number one: Vulture Street (July 2003), Dream Days at the Hotel Existence (June 2007) and Golden Rule (November 2009). Powderfinger earned the third-highest total of ARIA Awards (18), after Silverchair and John Farnham. Their last tour, the Sunsets Farewell Tour, concluded on 13 November 2010. In November the following year, the band published a biography with Dino Scatena, a rock music journalist, called Footprints: the inside story of Australia’s best loved band.
Wikipedia article of the day for March 15, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for March 15, 2017 is Allah jang Palsoe.
Allah jang Palsoe (Malay for The False God) is a 1919 stage drama from the Dutch East Indies that was written by the ethnic Chinese author Kwee Tek Hoay, based on E. Phillips Oppenheim’s short story “The False Gods”. Over six acts, the Malay-language play follows two brothers, one a devout son who holds firmly to his morals and personal honour, the other a man who worships money and prioritises personal gain. The two learn over the course of a decade that money (the titular false god) is not the path to happiness. Kwee Tek Hoay’s first stage play, Allah jang Palsoe was written as a realist response to whimsical contemporary theatre. Though the published stageplay sold poorly and the play was deemed difficult to perform, Allah jang Palsoe found success on the stage. By 1930 it had been performed by various ethnic Chinese troupes to popular acclaim, and had pioneered a body of work by authors such as Lauw Giok Lan, Tio Ie Soei, and Tjoa Tjien Mo. In 2006 the script for the play, which continues to be performed, was republished with updated spelling by the Lontar Foundation.
Wikipedia article of the day for March 14, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for March 14, 2017 is Hugh de Neville.
Hugh de Neville (died 1234) was the Chief Forester under the kings Richard I, John, and Henry III of England, and a sheriff of several counties over his lifetime. Neville was related to royal officials and a bishop, and was a member of Prince Richard’s household. After Richard became king in 1189, Neville continued in his service, accompanying him on the Third Crusade. Neville remained in the royal service following Richard’s death in 1199 and the accession of King John to the throne, becoming one of the new king’s favourites and often gambling with him. He was named in Magna Carta as one of John’s principal advisers, considered by a medieval chronicler to be one of King John’s “evil counsellors”. He deserted John after the French invasion of England in 1216, but returned to pledge his loyalty to John’s son Henry III after the latter’s accession to the throne that year. Neville’s royal service continued until his death in 1234, though by then he was a less significant figure than he had been at the height of his powers.
Wikipedia article of the day for March 13, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for March 13, 2017 is God of War II.
God of War II is a third person action-adventure video game first released on March 13, 2007, and was the last major release for the PlayStation 2. The player controls Kratos, a Spartan warrior who became the new God of War after killing the former, Ares. Kratos is betrayed by Zeus, the King of the Olympian Gods, who strips him of his godhood and kills him. On his way to the Underworld, Kratos is saved by Gaia, who instructs him to find the Sisters of Fate. Acquiring their power, he travels back in time to avert his betrayal and take revenge on Zeus, who is revealed to be his father. The gameplay focuses on combo-based combat and features quick time events that require the player to complete game controller actions in a timed sequence to defeat stronger enemies and bosses. The game also features magical attacks, puzzles, and platforming elements. The fourteenth best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time, it sold more than 4.24 million copies worldwide. Regarded as one of the best action-adventure games for the platform and noted for its graphics and gameplay, it received several awards, including PlayStation Game of the Year.
Wikipedia article of the day for March 12, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for March 12, 2017 is Eta Carinae.
Eta Carinae is a stellar system of at least two stars with a combined luminosity over five million times that of the Sun, around 7500 light-years distant in the constellation Carina. First recorded as a 4th-magnitude star, it brightened considerably beginning in 1837 in an event known as the Great Eruption, becoming the second-brightest star in the sky between 11 and 14 March 1843 before fading well below naked eye visibility. It has been getting brighter again since about 1940, peaking above magnitude 4.5 in 2014. Eta Carinae is always above the horizon south of latitude 30°S, and never visible north of about latitude 30°N. The two main stars of the system orbit each other with a period of 5.54 years. The primary is a peculiar star similar to a luminous blue variable, initially 150–250 times as massive as the Sun but now at least 30 solar masses lighter, and is expected to eventually explode as a supernova. The secondary star is hot and also highly luminous, around 30–80 times as massive as the Sun. The system is heavily obscured by the Homunculus Nebula, material ejected from the primary during the Great Eruption.
