The Wikipedia article of the day for June 29, 2017 is Tropical Storm Bill (2003).
Tropical Storm Bill hit the Gulf Coast of the United States in the summer of 2003. The second storm of that Atlantic hurricane season, Bill developed from a tropical wave on June 29 to the north of the Yucatán Peninsula. It slowly organized as it moved northward, and reached a peak of 60 mph (95 km/h) shortly before making landfall in south-central Louisiana. It produced a moderate storm surge, causing tidal flooding. In Montegut in the northeastern portion of the state, a levee was breached, flooding many homes, and in Florida, two swimmers drowned. As Bill accelerated to the northeast, moisture from the storm, combined with cold air from an approaching cold front, produced an outbreak of 34 tornadoes. Moderate winds and wet soil combined to topple trees onto houses and power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without electric power. By the time Bill became extratropical on July 2, it was responsible for four deaths and around $50 million in damage.
Archives for June 2017
Wikipedia article of the day for June 29, 2017
Wikipedia article of the day for June 28, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for June 28, 2017 is White-naped xenopsaris.
The white-naped xenopsaris (Xenopsaris albinucha) is a bird in the family Tityridae found in the South American countries of Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. It lives in open woodland and other open forest habitats, and is mostly sedentary, though some populations may be migratory. The only species in its genus, it is closely related to becards and tityras, and was thought to be either a tyrant-flycatcher or cotinga before it was placed in the Tityridae family. The bird is 12.5 to 13 cm (4.9–5.1 in) in length, with whitish undersides, a black crown and grey-brown upperparts. The sexes are similar in appearance, though the females have duller upperparts. It feeds on insects in the foliage of trees and bushes, and sometimes on the ground. In a simple cup nest in the fork of a tree, both parents incubate the eggs and help feed the chicks. After the chicks have fledged, the parents may divide the brood, each helping one or two chicks. The species is not common and little is known about it, but it is not in danger of extinction.
Wikipedia article of the day for June 27, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for June 27, 2017 is The Well of Loneliness.
The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 lesbian novel by the British author Radclyffe Hall that follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family. Her “sexual inversion” (homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection. The novel portrays inversion as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: “Give us also the right to our existence”. Although its only sexual reference consists of the words “and that night, they were not divided”, a British court judged it obscene because it defended “unnatural practices between women”. In the United States the book survived legal challenges. Publicity over The Well’s legal battles increased the visibility of lesbians in British and American culture. Gordon’s expressions of self-hatred have been faulted for inspiring shame, but the book was for decades the best-known lesbian novel in English, and often the first source of information about lesbianism that young people could find.
Wikipedia article of the day for June 26, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for June 26, 2017 is Japanese aircraft carrier Jun’yō.
Jun’yō (“Peregrine Falcon”) was a Hiyō-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was laid down as the passenger liner Kashiwara Maru, but was purchased by the navy in 1941 while still under construction and converted into an aircraft carrier. Launched on 26 June 1941 and completed in May 1942, the ship participated in the Aleutian Islands Campaign the following month and in several battles of the Guadalcanal Campaign later in the year. Her aircraft were used from land bases during several battles in the New Guinea and Solomon Islands Campaigns. Jun’yō was torpedoed in November 1943 and spent three months under repair. She was damaged by several bombs during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in mid-1944, but quickly returned to service. Lacking aircraft, she was used as a transport in late 1944 and was torpedoed again in December. Jun’yō was under repair until March 1945, when work was cancelled as uneconomical. She was then effectively hulked for the rest of the war. After the surrender of Japan in September, the Americans also decided that she was not worth the cost to make her serviceable for use as a repatriation ship, and she was broken up in 1946 and 1947.
Wikipedia article of the day for June 25, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for June 25, 2017 is Ukiyo-e.
The ukiyo-e genre of art flourished in Japan from the 17th to the 19th century. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties, kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers, scenes from history and folk tales, travel scenes and landscapes, flora and fauna, and erotica. The term ukiyo-e refers to pictures of the ukiyo or “floating world” of kabuki theatre, courtesans, and geisha of the pleasure districts. Images of this environment became successful in the 1670s with Moronobu’s paintings and monochromatic prints of beautiful women. By the 1740s, artists such as Masanobu were using multiple woodblocks to print areas of colour. In the 1760s, with the success of Harunobu’s “brocade prints”, full-colour production of prints made with numerous blocks became standard. Portraits of beauties and actors by masters such as Kiyonaga, Utamaro, and Sharaku were prominent in the late 18th century. Masters from the 19th century include the bold formalist Hokusai, whose Great Wave off Kanagawa is one of the best-known works of Japanese art, and the serene, atmospheric Hiroshige, most noted for his series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō.
Wikipedia article of the day for June 24, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for June 24, 2017 is 4 (Beyoncé album).
4 is the fourth studio album by American singer Beyoncé (pictured), released on June 24, 2011, by Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. In collaborations with songwriters and producers The-Dream, Tricky Stewart, and Shea Taylor, Beyoncé aimed for a mellower rhythm and blues tone with influences from funk, hip hop, and soul. She severed professional ties with Mathew Knowles, her father and manager, to help her develop an intimate, personal album. The lyrics emphasize monogamy, female empowerment and self-reflection. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, and some put it on their year-end lists. It was her fourth consecutive album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, and it also reached number one in Brazil, France, Ireland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It spawned the international singles “Run the World (Girls)”, “Best Thing I Never Had”, “Party”, “Love On Top” and “Countdown”. “Love On Top” won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 55th annual ceremony. The album has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the United States.
Wikipedia article of the day for June 23, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for June 23, 2017 is June 1941 uprising in eastern Herzegovina.
The uprising in eastern Herzegovina on 23 June 1941 was a Serb rebellion against the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), an Axis puppet state established during World War II on the territory of the defeated Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As the NDH imposed its authority, members of the fascist Ustaše ruling party had begun a campaign of persecution against Serbs throughout the country. In eastern Herzegovina, the Ustaše perpetrated a series of massacres and attacks against the majority Serb population commencing in the first week of June, igniting a series of spontaneous clashes between the NDH authorities and groups of Serbs. On 23 June, the day after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, sporadic revolts erupted into mass rebellion, triggered by Ustaše persecution, Serb solidarity with the Russian people, hatred and fear of the NDH authorities, and other factors. The Italians intervened after several setbacks for the NDH forces, who regained full control of all towns and transport routes by 7 July.
Wikipedia article of the day for June 22, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for June 22, 2017 is Tidus.
Tidus is a role-playing video game character, introduced as the protagonist of Final Fantasy X in 2001. He is a 17-year-old star blitzball player who joins a pilgrimage to destroy a creature that attacked Zanarkand, his hometown. He has appeared in other video games, including the Final Fantasy X sequel Final Fantasy X-2, the Kingdom Hearts series, and several Square Enix crossover games. The cheerful Tidus was designed by Tetsuya Nomura. Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima gave him frequent monologues describing the game’s setting. Tidus is voiced in English by James Arnold Taylor and in Japanese primarily by Masakazu Morita, who also performed the motion capture. Video game critics judged Titus an appealing protagonist, with excellent character development. Although reviewers and fans were divided on Taylor’s voice work, Tidus enjoyed popularity with fans, often ranking as one of the best Final Fantasy characters in polls. He is a popular cosplay character.
Wikipedia article of the day for June 21, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for June 21, 2017 is Ram Narayan.
Ram Narayan (born 1927) is an Indian musician who popularised the bowed sarangi of Hindustani classical music as a solo concert instrument and became its first international virtuoso. He was born near Udaipur and learned to play at an early age. He studied under sarangi players and singers and, as a teenager, worked as a music teacher and travelling musician. All India Radio, Lahore, hired him as an accompanist for vocalists in 1944. He moved to Delhi following the partition of India in 1947 and moved to Mumbai in 1949 to work in Indian cinema. He had his first success as a concert solo artist in 1956 and has since performed at major music festivals in India. After sitar player Ravi Shankar successfully performed in Western countries, Narayan followed his example. He recorded solo albums and made his first international tour in 1964 to America and Europe with his older brother Chatur Lal, a tabla player who had toured with Shankar in the 1950s. Narayan taught Indian and foreign students and performed into the 2000s. He was awarded India’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2005.
Wikipedia article of the day for June 20, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for June 20, 2017 is Melbourne Castle.
Melbourne Castle was an incomplete medieval castle, founded in 1311 by Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, in Melbourne, Derbyshire. It was built on the site of an earlier royal manor house that had provided accommodation for noblemen hunting in a nearby royal park in the reign of King John. After the earl’s execution in 1322 for opposing Edward II, the castle was mainly in the possession of the Crown or the Earls and Dukes of Lancaster. Improvements and repairs were made by John of Gaunt and others, and the building was in generally good condition throughout the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. John I, Duke of Bourbon, was kept at Melbourne for 19 years after his capture at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and it was considered as a possible prison for Mary Queen of Scots. The castle was in decline by the end of the reign of Elizabeth I. It was purchased in 1604 by Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon, who had his own castle in nearby Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and was gradually demolished for its building materials. All that remains is a short section of wall and some foundations. The ruins are grade II listed and the site is a scheduled monument, with no public access.
