Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 December 5

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Today's featured article
Adenanthos obovatus is a shrub of the Proteaceae family endemic to Southwest Australia. It grows as a many-stemmed spreading bush up to 1 m (3 ft) high, and about 1.5 m (5 ft) across, with fine bright green foliage. Made up of single red flowers, the inflorescences appear from April to December, and peak in spring (August to October). The shrub grows on sandy soils in seasonally wet lowland areas as well as hills and dunes. It regenerates after bushfire by resprouting from its underground lignotuber. Pollinators include honeyeaters, particularly the Western Spinebill, which can access the nectar with its long curved bill, and the Silvereye, which punctures the flower tube. The most commonly cultivated Adenanthos species in Australia, it has a long flowering period and attracts honeyeaters to the garden. It is harvested for the cut flower industry. (more...) Recently featured: Saturn – Tropical Storm Barry (2001) – Macaroni Penguin Archive – By email – More featured articles...
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From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that if eaten by a pregnant cow, the silky lupine (pictured) can cause the unborn calf to be deformed? ... that Yehuda Tzadka started learning at Porat Yosef Yeshiva after his bar mitzvah, and remained there for nearly 70 years? ... that baseball historian John Thorn has credited Doc Adams with inventing the concept of the shortstop position? ... that Chrisye faced accusations of plagiarism due to similarities between the title song of his album Hip Hip Hura and "Footloose"? ... that Rajinikanth was given the "Superstar" title through the film Bairavi? ... that the U.S. Navy's Sparoair sounding rocket could be launched by any aircraft capable of launching the Sparrow air-to-air missile? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Laurent Gbagbo The first summit of CELAC, a bloc of Latin American and Caribbean nations, takes place in Caracas, Venezuela. The United Kingdom expels all Iranian diplomats from the country following an attack on its embassy in Tehran. Laurent Gbagbo (pictured), former President of Côte d'Ivoire, is extradited to the International Criminal Court to face trial over his role in the Second Ivorian Civil War. The Justice and Development Party, led by Abdelilah Benkirane, wins a plurality in the Moroccan parliamentary election. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
December 5: Day of Ashura (Islam, 2011); St Nicholas's Eve in various European countries; Father's Day in Thailand 1484 – Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, giving Dominican Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany. 1876 – Fire engulfed the Brooklyn Theater (damage pictured) in Brooklyn, New York, killing at least 278 people, mostly due to smoke inhalation. 1945 – Flight 19, a squadron of five U.S. naval TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, disappeared in the area now known as the Bermuda Triangle. 1952 – The "Great Smog" began in London and lasted for five days, causing 12,000 deaths and leading to the Clean Air Act 1956. 1972 – Gough Whitlam took office as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia and formed a duumvirate with his deputy Lance Barnard, ending 23 years of Liberal-Country Party government. More anniversaries: December 4 – December 5 – December 6 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now December 5, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured list

A brown volcano in the center with white smoke emanating from its peak, a cloudy sky fading from blue at the top through yellow in the middle to red at the horizon, and brown mountains in the foreground.

Volcanoes in Indonesia are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The geography of Indonesia is dominated by volcanoes that are formed due to subduction zones between the Eurasian Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. Some of the volcanoes are notable for their eruptions, for instance, Krakatoa for its global effects in 1883, Lake Toba for its supervolcanic eruption estimated to have occurred 74,000 years Before Present which was responsible for six years of volcanic winter, and Mount Tambora for the most violent eruption in recorded history in 1815. The most active volcanoes are Kelud and Merapi on Java island which have been responsible for thousands of deaths in the region. Since AD 1000, Kelud has erupted more than 30 times, of which the largest eruption was at scale 5 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI), while Merapi has erupted more than 80 times. The International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior has named Merapi as a Decade Volcano since 1995 because of its high volcanic activity. (more...)

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Today's featured picture

The Karnataka High Court, the High Court of the Indian state of Karnataka, is housed in a building named Attara Kacheri, meaning "eighteen offices". It is a two-storey building, red in colour and is built in the neoclassical style. The name comes from the eighteen departments of the general and revenue secretariat of the Mysore government that were moved here from their crowded premises in Tipu Sultan's summer palace.

Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

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