Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 December 6

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From today's featured article

Hurricane Connie was the first of three hurricanes to strike North Carolina in 1955. It formed on August 3 in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, and killed three people in the United States Virgin Islands while passing nearby. Connie reached reported maximum sustained winds of 120 knots (140 mph, 220 km/h), making it a Category 4 hurricane, before it weakened and moved ashore on August 12. It tracked north through the Chesapeake Bay region, and was later absorbed by a cold front over Lake Huron on August 15. The hurricane caused around $86 million in damage, and at least 295,000 people nationwide lost power during the storm. In North Carolina, the storm killed 27 people. In the Chesapeake Bay, Connie capsized a boat, killing 14 people. There were also 4 deaths in Washington, D.C., 6 deaths each in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 14 in New York, and 3 in Ontario. Connie was followed days later by Hurricane Diane, which caused $700 million in flood damage. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

M.O.N.T busking in Hongdae

... that M.O.N.T (pictured) was the first Korean idol group to film a music video on the disputed Liancourt Rocks?
... that the use of retentions in the British construction industry, which is now commonplace, had its origins in the Railway Mania of the 1840s?
... that Indian-American chef Raji Jallepalli, who is credited with "originating the fusion of classic French and Indian cuisines", originally trained as a microbiologist?
... that the Peleng tarsier, a small carnivorous primate, can rotate its head nearly 180 degrees in either direction?
... that German World War II general Heinz Guderian issued post-war apologetics for Hitler, writing that "his struggle was about Europe, even if he made dreadful mistakes and errors"?
... that a young Bob Smith, later famous as Wolfman Jack, got his first radio job as "Daddy Jules" at WYOU in Newport News, Virginia?
... that William Chapple discovered Euler's theorem and Poncelet's porism?
... that sculptures of rats outside the Graybar Building, near Grand Central Terminal, were included to signify New York City's role as a "great transportation centre"?

In the news

SMS Scharnhorst

The wreck of the cruiser SMS Scharnhorst (pictured), which sank during the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914, is discovered.
The Power of Siberia pipeline begins operations, delivering Russian natural gas to China.
In Iraq, Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi resigns amidst ongoing protests.
Luis Lacalle Pou of the National Party is elected President of Uruguay.

On this day

December 6: Saint Nicholas Day (Western Christianity); Independence Day in Finland (1917)

Nefertiti Bust

1060 – Béla I was crowned King of Hungary in Székesfehérvár.
1847 – Mexican–American War: American and Mexican forces clashed at the Battle of San Pasqual, a series of skirmishes near San Diego, California.
1912 – The Nefertiti Bust (pictured), listed among the "Top 10 Plundered Artifacts" by Time magazine, was found in Amarna, Egypt, before being taken to Germany.
1989 – Claiming to be "fighting feminism", 25-year-old Marc Lépine killed fourteen women before committing suicide at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Canada.
1999 – The Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit against the peer-to-peer file sharing network Napster, alleging that the service facilitated widespread copyright infringement.

Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (b. 1685) · William John Swainson (d. 1855) · Satoru Iwata (b. 1959)

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From today's featured list

Sanjay Dutt

Sanjay Dutt's acting career has consisted of his work in Bollywood films. He made his acting debut in 1981, opposite Tina Ambani, in his father Sunil Dutt's romantic action film Rocky (1981). Rocky was ranked as the tenth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1981. After appearing in a series of box-office flops, Sanjay Dutt starred in Mahesh Bhatt's crime thriller film Naam (1986). He received critical acclaim for his performance, and it became a turning point in his career. In 1991, Dutt appeared in Lawrence D'Souza's Indian romantic drama film Saajan (1991), starring alongside Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan. For his performance, he was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. He was nominated again for the same award for his performance in Khalnayak (1993). Dutt won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for portraying a young man who later becomes a gangster in Vaastav: The Reality (1999). He also received critical acclaim for his performance. Dutt next appeared in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's crime thriller film Mission Kashmir (2000), for which performance he was again nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Calliphora vicina is a species in the family Calliphoridae, the blow flies. The species is particularly important in the field of forensic entomology due to its consistent time of arrival and colonization of the body following death.

This picture is a macro photograph of the head of a C. vicina fly. The head is dominated by a pair of large compound eyes, each composed of several thousand light-receiving units known as ommatidia, arranged in a hexagonal pattern. The ommatidia are elongated and rod-shaped, and are oriented perpendicular to the surface of the eye; each has its own lens and photoreceptor cells. The brain combines the points of light from each of the ommatidia to form a mosaic image. Also visible in the picture are various bristles, pedipalps and mouthparts.

Photograph credit: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory

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