The Wikipedia article of the day for December 14, 2016 is Under the Bridge.
“Under the Bridge” is a song by the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released in 1992 as the second single from the group’s fifth studio album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Vocalist Anthony Kiedis wrote the lyrics to express feelings of loneliness and despondency, and to reflect on the impact of narcotics on his life. Kiedis was reluctant to show his band mates the lyrics, which were more emotional than the Chili Peppers’ usual style, but producer Rick Rubin insisted. The band was receptive, and wrote the music. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The accompanying video was frequently played on music television channels, and won the Viewer’s Choice and Breakthrough Video awards at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. The band’s growing popularity overwhelmed guitarist John Frusciante, who temporarily left them the same year. The song is now considered a standard of the alternative rock movement of the early and mid-1990s, and has been cited as an inspiration by many artists.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 14, 2016
Wikipedia article of the day for December 13, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 13, 2016 is Ike Altgens.
Ike Altgens (April 28, 1919 – December 12, 1995) was an American photojournalist, photo editor and field reporter for the Associated Press (AP) who took two photographs that circulated worldwide after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK). Altgens was 19 when he began his AP career, which was interrupted by military service during World War II. When his service time ended, he returned to Dallas, Texas, got married, and went back to work for the local AP bureau, eventually earning a position as a senior editor. He was on assignment for the AP when he captured two historic images on November 22, 1963. The second photo, showing First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy toward the rear of the presidential limousine and Secret Service agent Clint Hill on its bumper, was reproduced on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Within days, Altgens’ preceding photo became controversial after people began to question whether it showed accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in the main doorway of the Texas School Book Depository as the gunshots were fired at JFK.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 12, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 12, 2016 is Hydrus.
Hydrus is a small constellation in the deep southern sky. Its first appearance was on a celestial globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by the astronomer Petrus Plancius and the cartographer Jodocus Hondius. The first celestial atlas to depict it was Johann Bayer’s Uranometria, in 1603. The French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille charted the brighter stars and gave their Bayer designations in 1756. Its name means “male water snake”, as opposed to Hydra, a much larger constellation that represents a female water snake. Hydrus remains below the horizon for most Northern Hemisphere observers. The brightest star is the 2.8-magnitude Beta Hydri, also the brightest star within 15° of the south celestial pole. Pulsating between magnitude 3.26 and 3.33, Gamma Hydri is a variable red giant some 60 times the diameter of our Sun. Near it is VW Hydri, one of the brightest dwarf novae in the heavens. Four star systems have been found to have exoplanets to date, including HD 10180, which might bear up to nine planetary companions.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 11, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 11, 2016 is George Mason.
George Mason (December 11, 1725 – October 7, 1792) was a Virginia planter, politician, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of three men who refused to sign. He served in the pro-independence Fourth Virginia Convention of 1775 and the Fifth Virginia Convention of 1776, during which he wrote much of the Virginia Declaration of Rights; this later served as a basis for the Bill of Rights, of which he has been deemed the father. Named one of his state’s delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Mason traveled to Philadelphia, his only lengthy trip outside Virginia, and was active in the convention for months before deciding he could not sign the final draft. Although he lost his fight to add a bill of rights there, and again at the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788, his efforts led his fellow Virginian James Madison to introduce one during the First Congress in 1789, and it was ratified in 1791, a year before Mason died. Long obscure, Mason is today recognized for his contributions to the founding texts of Virginia and the United States.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 10, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 10, 2016 is Fantastic Adventures.
Fantastic Adventures was an American pulp fantasy and science fiction magazine, edited by Ray Palmer and published from 1939 to 1953 by Ziff-Davis. It was almost cancelled at the end of 1940, but the October 1940 issue had unexpectedly good sales, helped by a strong cover (pictured) by J. Allen St. John for Robert Moore Williams’ Jongor of Lost Land. Fantastic Adventures soon developed a reputation for light-hearted and whimsical stories. The cover art usually focused on melodramatic action scenes; H.W. McCauley’s covers, featuring glamorous, alluring women, were among the most popular. In 1949 Palmer was replaced by Howard Browne, who was knowledgeable and enthusiastic about fantasy fiction. Browne briefly managed to improve the quality of the fiction in Fantastic Adventures, and the period around 1951 has been described as the magazine’s heyday. Browne lost interest when his plan to take Amazing Stories more upmarket collapsed, however, and the magazine fell back into predictability. In 1952, Ziff-Davis launched another fantasy magazine, titled Fantastic, in a digest format; it was successful, and in March 1953 they ended Fantastic Adventures in favor of Fantastic.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 9, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 9, 2016 is Exsudoporus frostii.
Exsudoporus frostii, Frost’s bolete, is a fungus first described in 1874. The mushrooms it produces have tubes and pores instead of gills on the underside of their caps. E. frostii is distributed in the eastern United States from Maine to Georgia and Arizona, and south to Mexico and Costa Rica. It is typically found associating with hardwood trees, especially oak. Its mushrooms can be recognized by their dark red sticky caps, the red pores, the network-like pattern of the stem, and a variable blue-staining reaction after tissue injury. Another characteristic of young, moist fruit bodies is the amber-colored drops exuded on the pore surface. Although the mushrooms are considered edible, they are generally not recommended for consumption because of the risk of confusion with other poisonous red-pored, blue-bruising boletes. E. frostii may be distinguished from other superficially similar red-capped boletes by differences in distribution, associated tree species, bluing reaction, or morphology.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 8, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 8, 2016 is Ernie Toshack.
Ernie Toshack (8 December 1914 – 11 May 2003) was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. He made his first-class debut in 1945 as a left-arm medium paced bowler; his accuracy, stamina, changes of pace, and movement in both directions confounded batsmen. After only seven matches in the Sheffield Shield domestic competition, he was selected for Australia’s tour of New Zealand. In Wellington, he opened the bowling in a match that was later classed as an official Test match. He became a regular member of the Australian team, playing in all of its Tests until the 1947–48 series against India; he took a career-best 11 wickets for 31 runs in the First Test but began to suffer recurring knee injuries. As a member of Don Bradman’s Invincibles team, which went undefeated on a tour of England in 1948, Toshack played in the first four Tests before being injured again. After a long convalescence, he attempted a comeback during Australia’s 1949–50 season, but further injury forced him to retire. As a player, he was popular with crowds for his sense of humour.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 7, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 7, 2016 is Pennsylvania-class battleship.
The Pennsylvania class consisted of two super-dreadnought battleships, Pennsylvania and Arizona, named after American states. They were the newest American capital ships when the United States entered the First World War, but saw limited use at the time. During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, both ships were present. Arizona suffered a massive magazine explosion and sank with the loss of 1,177 officers and crewmen; the remains now lie beneath a memorial site that attracts more than two million visitors annually. Pennsylvania, in dry dock at the time, received only minor damage; she spent most of the war as a shore bombardment ship before participating in the October 1944 Battle of Surigao Strait, the last battle ever between battleships. Pennsylvania was severely damaged by a torpedo on 12 August 1945, the day before the cessation of hostilities. With minimal repairs, she was used in Operation Crossroads, part of the Bikini atomic experiments, before being expended as a target ship in 1948.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 6, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 6, 2016 is Amanita ocreata.
Amanita ocreata, one of the death angels or destroying angels, is a deadly fungus native to California and the North American Pacific Northwest. The large fruiting bodies (mushrooms) generally appear in spring, associating with oak trees. The stalk, ring, gills and volva are white, and the cap may be white or ochre, often developing a brownish centre. It can resemble the edible springtime amanita (A. velosa), coccora (A. lanei) or stubble rosegill (Volvariella speciosa), but is similar in toxicity to the death cap (A. phalloides) and to the destroying angels of Europe (A. virosa) and eastern North America (A. bisporigera). Its principal toxic constituent, α-amanitin, damages the liver and kidneys, and has no known antidote. The initial gastrointestinal symptoms, including abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting, subside after two or three days. Ongoing damage to internal organs can cause jaundice, diarrhea, delirium, seizures, coma, and in many cases, death from liver failure 6 to 16 days after ingestion.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 5, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 5, 2016 is Walt Disney.
Walt Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he holds the record for the most Academy Awards earned by an individual (22), out of 59 nominations. He set up the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio with his brother Roy in the 1920s, and had his first big success with the character Mickey Mouse. As the studio grew, he introduced synchronized sound, better cameras, and full-color three-strip Technicolor, as seen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia, Pinocchio (both 1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942). In 1955 he opened the Disneyland theme park and diversified into television programs, including The Mickey Mouse Club. He helped plan the 1959 Moscow Fair, the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the 1964 New York World’s Fair. In 1965 he began work on Disney World and a concept he called the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). Disney was a shy and self-deprecating man in private, but adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. The company he cofounded exists today as one of the world’s largest and best-known entertainment companies.
