The Wikipedia article of the day for January 3, 2017 is Smilodon.
Smilodon, the saber-toothed tiger, is an extinct genus that lived in the Americas up to 2.5 million years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. It was named in 1842 and identified by fossils from Brazil. The largest collection of its fossils has come from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. The species S. gracilis and S. fatalis lived mostly in North America. A third species, the South American S. populator (meaning destroyer), was perhaps the largest known member of the family of cats, at 220 to 400 kg (490 to 880 lb) and 120 cm (47 in) in height. Overall, saber-toothed tigers were stronger than any modern cat, with well-developed forelimbs, big jaws, and long, slender upper canines, adapted for precision killing. In North America, they hunted large herbivores such as bison and camels, pinning their prey before biting it. They probably lived in habitats that provided cover for ambushing prey, such as forests and shrubland. They died out at the same time that most North and South American megafauna disappeared, during a period of climate change about 10,000 years ago.
Wikipedia article of the day for January 3, 2017
Wikipedia article of the day for January 2, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for January 2, 2017 is English Benedictine Reform.
The English Benedictine Reform in the late tenth century was the most important religious and intellectual movement in the later Anglo-Saxon period. The reformers sought to replace married secular clergy in monasteries with celibate contemplative monks who followed the Rule of Saint Benedict. The court of Æthelstan (924–39), the first king of the whole of England, began a cosmopolitan trend; future reformers such as Æthelwold of Winchester, Oswald of Worcester, and Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, learned from Continental exponents of Benedictine monasticism. The reformers had close relations with the crown, furthering its interests and depending on its support, especially under King Edgar (959–75). Influential artistic workshops established by Æthelwold reached a high standard of craftsmanship in manuscript illustration, sculpture and gold and silver, and his monasteries produced scholarship and competent prose and poetry in the elaborate hermeneutic style of Latin. His Winchester school helped create the standard vernacular West Saxon literary language, and his pupil Ælfric was its most eminent writer.
Wikipedia article of the day for January 1, 2017
The Wikipedia article of the day for January 1, 2017 is Madman’s Drum.
Madman’s Drum is a 1930 wordless novel by American artist Lynd Ward (1905–1985). Its 118 images tell the story of a slave trader who steals a demon-faced drum from an African he murders, and of the consequences for him and his family. The book was executed in wood engravings. It is the second of Ward’s six wordless novels, after Gods’ Man of 1929. Ward was more ambitious with this second work in the medium: the characters are more nuanced, the plot more developed and complicated, and his outrage at social injustice more explicit. He used a finer degree of detail in the artwork, through a wider variety of carving tools, and was expressive in his use of symbolism and exaggerated emotional facial expressions. The success of Ward’s first two wordless novels encouraged publishers to issue more books in the genre. In 1943 psychologist Henry Murray used two images from the work in his Thematic Apperception Test of personality traits. Madman’s Drum is considered less successfully executed than Gods’ Man, and Ward streamlined his work in his next wordless novel, Wild Pilgrimage (1932).
Wikipedia article of the day for December 31, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 31, 2016 is Eisenhower dollar.
The Eisenhower dollar is a one-dollar coin issued from 1971 to 1978 by the United States Mint. Authorized by law on December 31, 1970, it was the first US dollar coin minted since 1935, the last year of the Peace dollar. Designed by Frank Gasparro, the coin’s obverse depicts President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who died in March 1969. Proposals in Congress to honor him on a coin led to a dispute over whether the new coin was to contain silver. In 1970, a compromise was reached to strike it in base metal for circulation, and in 40% silver as a collectible. Although the collector’s pieces sold well, the new dollars failed to circulate, except in and around Nevada casinos, where they took the place of privately issued tokens. Coins from 1975 and 1976 bear a double date, 1776–1976, and a special reverse by Dennis R. Williams in honor of the Bicentennial. To replace the Eisenhower dollar with a smaller-sized piece, Congress authorized the Susan B. Anthony dollar, struck beginning in 1979, but that coin also failed to circulate.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 30, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 30, 2016 is No Me Queda Más.
“No Me Queda Más” (“There’s Nothing Left for Me”) is a song by American recording artist Selena for her fourth studio album, Amor Prohibido (1994). Written by Ricky Vela and produced by Selena’s brother A.B. Quintanilla, it was released as the third single from the album in October 1994 by EMI Latin. It is a downtempo mariachi and pop ballad that portrays a woman who wishes the best for her former lover despite her own agony. Praised by music critics for its raw emotion, “No Me Queda Más” was one of the most successful singles of Selena’s career, topping the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart for seven non-consecutive weeks. It was the Song of the Year at the 1995 Broadcast Music Awards and became the most successful US Latin single of 1995. Billboard magazine ranked it ninth on a list of Tejano recordings. A music video, shot in San Antonio’s Amtrak station, received the Music Video of the Year award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. Many musicians have recorded cover versions, including Mexican singer Pepe Aguilar, American salsa singer Tito Nieves, and Mexican pop group Palomo.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 29, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 29, 2016 is Montreal Laboratory.
The Montreal Laboratory in Montreal, Canada, was established by the National Research Council of Canada during World War II to undertake nuclear research in collaboration with the United Kingdom. After the Fall of France, some French scientists escaped to Britain with their stock of heavy water, and joined the British Tube Alloys project to build an atomic bomb. In 1942, it was decided to relocate the work to Canada. The Montreal Laboratory was established in a house belonging to McGill University, but moved to the Université de Montréal in March 1943. The first laboratory staff arrived at the end of 1942. John Cockcroft became director in May 1944. In August 1943, Mackenzie King, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill (pictured) negotiated the Quebec Agreement, which merged Tube Alloys with the Manhattan Project. Work moved to the Chalk River Laboratories, which opened in 1944, and the Montreal Laboratory was closed in July 1946. Two reactors were built at Chalk River: the small ZEEP, which went critical in September 1945, and the larger NRX, which followed in July 1947, and was for a time the most powerful research reactor in the world.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 28, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 28, 2016 is Pain fitzJohn.
Pain fitzJohn (died 1137) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and administrator, one of King Henry I of England’s “new men”, the ones who owed their positions and wealth to the king. Pain’s family originated in Normandy, but there is little to suggest that he had many ties there, and he appears to have spent most of his career in England and the Welsh Marches. A son of a minor nobleman, he rose to become an important royal official during Henry’s reign. In 1115 he was rewarded with marriage to an heiress, thereby gaining control of the town of Ludlow and its castle, which he augmented with further acquisitions. He became the sheriff in two counties near the border between England and Wales, and heard legal cases as a royal justice in much of western England. He was generous in his gifts of land to monastic houses. After Henry’s death in 1135 Pain supported Henry’s nephew, King Stephen. In July 1137 Pain was ambushed by the Welsh and killed as he was leading a relief expedition to the garrison at Carmarthen.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 27, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 27, 2016 is Ficus rubiginosa.
Ficus rubiginosa, the Port Jackson fig, is a species of flowering plant native to eastern Australia. Beginning as a seedling that grows on other plants (hemiepiphyte) or rocks (lithophyte), it matures into a tree 30 m (100 ft) high and nearly as wide with a yellow-brown buttressed trunk. The leaves are oval and glossy green and measure from 4 to 19.3 cm (1 1⁄2–7 1⁄2 in) long and 1.25 to 13.2 cm (1⁄2–5 1⁄4 in) wide. The fruits are small, round and yellow, and can ripen and turn red at any time of year, peaking in spring and summer. The fruit is known as a syconium, an inverted inflorescence with the flowers lining an internal cavity. F. rubiginosa is exclusively pollinated by the fig wasp species Pleistodontes imperialis. Many species of bird, including pigeons and parrots, eat the fruit. Ranging along the Australian east coast from Queensland to Bega in southern New South Wales, F. rubiginosa grows in rainforest margins and rocky outcrops. It is used as a shade tree in parks and public spaces, and when potted is well-suited for use as an indoor plant or in bonsai.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 26, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 26, 2016 is Tropical Storm Vamei.
Tropical Storm Vamei was a Pacific tropical cyclone, the last storm of the 2001 Pacific typhoon season. On December 26 the storm developed into a tropical depression about 230 km (145 mi) east of Singapore in the South China Sea at 1.4° N, 156 km (97 mi) north of the equator. This was the first recorded occurrence of a tropical cyclone developing near the equator, which had previously been considered impossible because of a lack of Coriolis effect there. It strengthened quickly and made landfall the next day approximately 60 km (35 mi) northeast of Singapore, along extreme southeastern Peninsular Malaysia. The storm rapidly dissipated over Sumatra a day later, and the remnants eventually re-organized in the North Indian Ocean. Though officially designated as a tropical storm, the intensity of Vamei is disputed; some agencies classify it as a typhoon, based on sustained winds of 140 km/h (85 mph) and the appearance of an eye. The storm brought flooding and landslides to eastern Peninsular Malaysia, causing US$3.6 million in damage and five deaths.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 25, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 25, 2016 is Hebron Church (Intermont, West Virginia).
Hebron Church is a mid-19th century Lutheran church in Intermont, Hampshire County, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It was founded in 1786 as Great Capon Church by German settlers in the Cacapon River Valley, making it the first Lutheran church west of the Shenandoah Valley. The congregation worshiped in a log church, which initially served both Lutheran and Reformed denominations. In 1821, records and sermons transitioned from German to English. The church’s congregation built the present Greek Revival-style church building in 1849, when it was renamed Hebron on the Cacapon. The original log church was moved across the road and used as a sexton’s house, Sunday school classroom, and public schoolhouse. To celebrate the congregation’s 175th anniversary in 1961, Hebron Church constructed a building for community functions and religious education, designed to be architecturally compatible with the 1849 brick church. Hebron Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, cited as a Potomac Highlands church with vernacular Greek Revival architecture.
