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 6, 2016
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.
Wikipedia article of the day for May 1, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for May 1, 2016 is Blakeney Point.
Blakeney Point is a National Nature Reserve near Blakeney on the north coast of Norfolk, England. It features a 6.4 km (4 mi) spit of shingle stones and sand dunes, as well as salt marshes and tidal mudflats. Land reclamation projects starting in the 17th century broadened the spit, but silted up nearby river channels. Ruins of a medieval dwelling called Blakeney Chapel and a monastery are buried in the marshes. The area has been studied for more than a century, following pioneering ecological studies by botanist Francis Wall Oliver and a bird ringing programme initiated by ornithologist Emma Turner. The reserve is important for breeding birds, especially terns, and for migrating birds in autumn. Up to 500 seals at a time gather at the end of the spit, and its sand and shingle hold a number of specialised invertebrates and plants, including the edible samphire. The spit is moving towards the mainland at about 1 m (1 yd) per year; several former islets have been covered by the advancing shingle and then lost to the sea. Managed by the National Trust since 1912, Blakeney Point lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a World Biosphere Reserve.
Wikipedia article of the day for April 30, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for April 30, 2016 is Franklin half dollar.
The Franklin half dollar coin was struck by the United States Mint from 1948 to 1963. It pictures Founding Father Benjamin Franklin on the obverse, with the Liberty Bell and a small eagle on the reverse. Produced in 90 percent silver with a reeded edge, the coin was struck at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints. Mint director Nellie Tayloe Ross had long admired Franklin, and asked the Mint’s chief engraver, John Sinnock, to design the coin; his initials appear on the obverse, but some mistook them for the initials of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. When Ross submitted the designs to the Commission of Fine Arts, they disliked the small eagle and felt that depicting the crack in the Liberty Bell would expose the coinage to jokes and ridicule; nevertheless, the Mint proceeded with Sinnock’s designs. Beginning in 1964 the coin was replaced by the Kennedy half dollar, issued in honor of the assassinated President, John F. Kennedy. Though the coin is still legal tender, its face value is greatly exceeded by its value to collectors or as silver.
Wikipedia article of the day for April 29, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for April 29, 2016 is Final Fantasy.
Lightning is a fictional character from Square Enix’s Final Fantasy series. She first appeared as a playable character and protagonist in the role-playing video game Final Fantasy XIII, and reappeared as a supporting character in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and as the sole playable character in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. She was created by Motomu Toriyama, the director and scenario writer of XIII, and designed by Tetsuya Nomura, a regular character artist for the series. Their idea was to create a strong female protagonist who was adept at combat and less feminine than previous Final Fantasy heroines. Lightning has received mixed commentary from critics—much of it relating to her cold personality, which was compared to that of Final Fantasy VII’s protagonist Cloud Strife. Some critics saw her in Lightning Returns as underdeveloped and unlikable, while others found her better developed and more human than in previous games. In lists later compiled by video game publications, Lightning was commended as one of the best characters in the Final Fantasy series and in video games as a whole.
Wikipedia article of the day for April 28, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for April 28, 2016 is Mutiny on the Bounty.
On 28 April 1789, a mutiny on HMS Bounty in the south Pacific was led by Fletcher Christian. Bounty had left England in 1787 on a mission to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti. During a five-month layover there, many of the men were in relationships with native Polynesians. Lieutenant William Bligh handed out increasingly harsh punishments and abuse, especially to Christian, and morale plummeted. After three weeks back at sea, Bligh and 18 of his crew were set adrift in the ship’s small uncovered launch, and had to row and sail more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) to reach safety. In 1791, 14 of the Bounty crew were arrested in Tahiti; four of these died when their ship ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef, four were acquitted at a court martial, three were pardoned and three were hanged. On Pitcairn Island, just one surviving mutineer, John Adams, was discovered in 1808; Christian and most of the rest had been killed, by each other and by the mistreated Tahitians they brought with them. Their descendants would continue to inhabit Pitcairn into the 21st century. The view of Bligh as an overbearing monster has in recent years been challenged by historians.
Wikipedia article of the day for April 27, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for April 27, 2016 is Menkauhor Kaiu.
Menkauhor Kaiu was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Old Kingdom period, the seventh ruler of the Fifth Dynasty in the 25th or 24th century BC. He ruled for possibly eight or nine years, following king Nyuserre Ini, and was succeeded by Djedkare Isesi. Although Menkauhor is well attested by historical sources, few artefacts from his reign have survived; less is known about him than about most Fifth Dynasty pharaohs, and no offspring of his have been identified. Khentkaus III may have been Menkauhor’s mother, as indicated by discoveries in her tomb in 2015. Beyond the construction of monuments, the only known activity dated to his reign is an expedition to the copper and turquoise mines in Sinai. He ordered the construction of a sun temple, the last ever to be built, called the Akhet-Ra (“The Horizon of Ra”). Known from inscriptions found in the tombs of its priests, this temple is yet to be located. Menkauhor was buried in Saqqara in a small pyramid named Netjer-Isut Menkauhor (“The Divine Places of Menkauhor”). Known today as the Headless Pyramid, the ruin had been lost under shifting sands until its rediscovery in 2008.
