The Wikipedia article of the day for August 24, 2016 is Voalavo.
Voalavo is a genus of rodent in the subfamily Nesomyinae, found only in Madagascar. Two species are known, both of which live in mountain forest above 1250 m (4100 ft) altitude; V. gymnocaudus lives in northern Madagascar and V. antsahabensis is restricted to a small area in the central part of the island. The genus was discovered in 1994 and formally described in 1998. Within Nesomyinae, it is most closely related to the genus Eliurus, and DNA sequence data suggest that the current definitions of these two genera need to be changed. Species of Voalavo are small, gray, mouse-like rodents, among the smallest nesomyines. They lack the distinctive tuft of long hairs on the tail that is characteristic of Eliurus. The tail is long and females have six mammae. In Voalavo, there are two glands on the chest (absent in Eliurus) that produce a sweet-smelling musk in breeding males. In the skull, the facial skeleton is long and the braincase is smooth. The molars are somewhat high-crowned, though less so than in Eliurus, and the third molars are reduced in size and complexity.
Wikipedia article of the day for August 24, 2016
Wikipedia article of the day for August 23, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 23, 2016 is Handel’s lost Hamburg operas.
Of the four operas written by the youthful composer George Frideric Handel (pictured) between 1703 and 1706 when he lived and worked in Hamburg, only the first, Almira, has survived complete. The music for the others is lost apart from a few orchestral fragments. Handel learned the rudiments of opera composition while employed as a violinist at the Oper am Gänsemarkt, Hamburg’s famous opera house, and was able to get Almira and a second opera, Nero, performed there during the temporary absence of the theatre’s director, Reinhard Keiser. Almira was successful, Nero less so. Handel’s last two Hamburg operas, Florindo and Daphne, were not produced at the Gänsemarkt before Handel left Hamburg. No music that can be definitively traced to Nero has been identified, although scholars have speculated that some of it may have been used in later works, particularly Agrippina, which has a similar plot and characters. Fragments of music from Florindo and Daphne have been preserved, although without the vocal parts, and some of these elements have been incorporated into an orchestral suite first recorded in 2012.
Wikipedia article of the day for August 22, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 22, 2016 is James Newland.
James Newland (22 August 1881 – 19 March 1949) was an Australian officer in the First World War. He received the Victoria Cross for successfully leading a company in several assaults on German positions and repulsing counterattacks in April 1917. Newland joined the Australian military in 1899 and saw active service during the Second Boer War. After completing several years’ service in the artillery, he transferred to the militia in 1907. He became a police officer in Tasmania before re-joining the permanent forces in 1910. He was in the first wave of Australian Imperial Force soldiers to land at Gallipoli. In the days following the landing, he was wounded and evacuated to Egypt, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Transferring to the Western Front in 1916, Newland was mentioned in despatches for his leadership while commanding a company during an attack at Mouquet Farm. He was wounded twice more during the war; medically discharged in March 1918, he returned to service with the permanent army. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1941.
Wikipedia article of the day for August 21, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 21, 2016 is United States v. Kagama.
United States v. Kagama was a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act of 1885, which gave jurisdiction to the federal courts in certain cases involving Native Americans. Kagama, a Yurok, was accused of murdering another Yurok on an Indian reservation. His case was selected by the Department of Justice as a test case for the Act. The court opinion, authored by Justice Samuel Freeman Miller (pictured), confirmed the authority of Congress over Indian affairs. Plenary power over Indian tribes, supposedly granted to the U.S. Congress by the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, was not deemed necessary to reach the decision; instead, the Court found the power in the tribe’s status as a dependent domestic nation. In the year following the decision, Congress passed the Dawes Act, intended to force assimilation and weaken tribal sovereignty. The case has been criticized by legal scholars as drawing on powers that are not granted to Congress by the Constitution.
Wikipedia article of the day for August 20, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 20, 2016 is Old Pine Church.
Old Pine Church is a mid-19th-century church near Purgitsville, West Virginia. It is among the earliest remaining log churches in Hampshire County, along with Capon Chapel and Mount Bethel Church. Constructed in 1838 to serve as a nondenominational church, it may also have been built as a meeting place for Schwarzenau Brethren adherents, known as “Dunkers” or “Dunkards”. The church probably hosted German Methodist settlers as well. By 1870, most services were for the Brethren denomination, and in 1878, the church’s congregation split into White Pine Church of the Brethren and Old Pine Church congregations. Both continued to use the church until 1907. Old Pine Church reportedly housed a school in the early 20th century while still serving as a center for worship. In 1968, residents of the Purgitsville community raised funds to restore the church. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 for its “significant settlement-era rural religious architecture in the Potomac Highlands.”
Wikipedia article of the day for August 19, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 19, 2016 is Borscht.
Borscht is a tart soup popular in several East European cuisines, including Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Romanian and Ashkenazi Jewish. It derives from an ancient soup cooked from pickled common hogweed. The variety most commonly associated with the name in English is a beetroot soup of Ukrainian origin; other varieties include sorrel, rye, and cabbage borscht. Borscht is typically made by combining meat or bone stock with sautéed vegetables, including cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes and tomatoes. It may include meat, fish or neither, may be served hot or cold, and may range from a hearty one-pot meal to a dainty clear broth or a smooth refreshing drink. Common garnishes and side-dishes include sour cream, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, uszka dumplings and pampushky buns. Several ethnic groups claim borscht, in its variegated local guises, as their own national dish and consume it as part of ritual meals within Eastern Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, and Jewish religious traditions.
Wikipedia article of the day for August 18, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 18, 2016 is Tjioeng Wanara.
Tjioeng Wanara is a 1941 film from the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) directed and produced by Jo Eng Sek as the second production by Star Film. Starring R Sukran, Elly Joenara, and AB Djoenaedi, the film depicts the political manipulations in the Sundanese kingdom of Galuh, where a young prince named Tjioeng Wanara must reclaim his throne. The film, which was adapted by Rd Ariffien from the Sundanese legend of the same name, was the first colossal production in the Indies, featuring more than 500 people in supporting roles and as extras. Tjioeng Wanara was released on 18 August 1941. Advertisements emphasised that the scholar Poerbatjaraka had served as the historical adviser and that the film was based on the version of the legend published by Balai Pustaka, the official publisher of the Dutch colonial government. The film premiered to commercial success, but received mixed reviews. Following the film’s release, Star released four further films. This black-and-white production, which was screened until at least 1948, may now be lost.
Wikipedia article of the day for August 17, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 17, 2016 is HMS Formidable (67).
HMS Formidable was an Illustrious-class aircraft carrier ordered for the Royal Navy before World War II. Transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet as a replacement for the crippled sister ship Illustrious, Formidable’s aircraft played a key role in the Battle of Cape Matapan in early 1941, then provided cover for Allied ships and attacked Axis forces until the carrier was badly damaged by German dive bombers in May. Assigned to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean in early 1942, the carrier covered the invasion of Diego Suarez in Vichy Madagascar in mid-1942 against the possibility of a sortie by the Japanese into the Indian Ocean. The ship participated in Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa, in November, and covered the invasions of Sicily and mainland Italy in 1943. Formidable made several attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway with the Home Fleet in mid-1944, and in 1945 attacked targets in the Japanese Home Islands. After repatriating liberated Allied prisoners of war and soldiers and ferrying British personnel across the globe, the ship was placed in reserve, and finally sold for scrap in 1953.
Wikipedia article of the day for August 16, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 16, 2016 is Banksia scabrella.
Banksia scabrella, commonly known as the Burma Road banksia, is a species of woody shrub in the genus Banksia. It is classified in the series Abietinae, a group of several species of shrubs with small round or oval flower spikes. It occurs in several isolated populations south of Geraldton, Western Australia; the largest is south and east of Mount Adams. Found on sandy soils in heathland or shrubland, it grows to 2 m (7 ft) high and 3 m (10 ft) across with fine needle-like leaves. Appearing in spring and summer, the flower spikes are tan to cream with purple styles. B. scabrella is killed by fire and regenerates by seed. Originally collected in 1966, it was one of several species previously considered to be forms of Banksia sphaerocarpa, before it was finally described by banksia expert Alex George in his 1981 revision of the genus. Like many members of the Abietinae, it is rarely seen in cultivation, but has been described as having horticultural potential.
Wikipedia article of the day for August 15, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for August 15, 2016 is 24th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Karstjäger.
The 24th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Karstjäger was a German mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS during World War II. Formed in July 1944 from the SS Volunteer Karstwehr Battalion, it was a division in name only, and was soon reduced to a brigade. Built around a company in existence since 1942, the unit consisted mainly of Yugoslav Volksdeutsche and recruits from South Tyrol. It was primarily involved in fighting partisans in the Karst Plateau on the frontiers of Yugoslavia, Italy, and Austria; the mountainous terrain required specialized mountain troops and equipment. It also saw action in the wake of the Italian surrender when it moved to disarm Italian troops and protect ethnic German communities in Italy. At the end of the war it successfully fought to keep passes into Austria open, allowing German units to escape the Balkans and surrender to British forces. The remnants of the unit became some of the last Germans to lay down their arms when they surrendered on 9 May 1945.
