Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 March 27

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Today's featured article
Drapier's Letters is the collective name for a series of seven pamphlets written between 1724 and 1725 by Jonathan Swift to arouse public opinion in Ireland against the imposition of a privately minted copper coinage which Swift believed to be of inferior quality. William Wood was granted letters patent to mint the coin, and Swift saw the licensing of the patent as corrupt. In response, Swift represented Ireland as constitutionally and financially independent in the Drapier's Letters. Since the subject was politically sensitive, Swift wrote under the pseudonym M. B. Drapier to hide from retaliation. Although the letters were condemned by the Irish government, with prompting from the British government, they were still able to inspire popular sentiment against Wood and his patent. The popular sentiment turned into a nationwide boycott, which forced the patent to be withdrawn; Swift was later honoured for this service to the people of Ireland. The first complete collection of the Drapier's Letters appeared in the 1735 George Faulkner edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift along with an allegorical frontispiece offering praise and thanks from the Irish people. Today, the Drapier's Letters are an important part of Swift's political writings, along with Gulliver's Travels (1726), A Tale of a Tub (1704), and A Modest Proposal (1729). (more...) Recently featured: Acrocanthosaurus – Radiohead – Joseph Barbera Archive – By email – More featured articles...
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From Wikipedia's newest articles: ... that James Moody (pictured) received his first Grammy Award for Moody 4B after he died? ... that the Japanese have been regarded as demonstrating "gaman" in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami? ... that architect Frank Lloyd Wright called the Wainwright Building, built by Ellis Wainwright in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1890–92, "the very first human expression of a tall steel office-building as Architecture"? ... that James Dunne O'Connell served as the Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army from 1955 to 1959? ... that Moroccan runner Abderrahim Goumri has been the runner-up at the New York City Marathon, London Marathon (twice) and the Chicago Marathon? ... that Entropezites, Mycetophagites, and Palaeoagaracites present the oldest evidence of fungal parasitism and hyperparasitism by other fungi in the fossil record? ... that bookmaker Ladbrokes paid out on bets that former UK Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke, would fall asleep during the 2011 budget speech? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Geraldine Ferraro (pictured), the first female major party vice presidential candidate in the United States, dies at the age of 75. Approximately 250,000 people march through London to protest against government spending cuts. Archaeologists in Texas find evidence suggesting that human settlement may have occurred in the Americas 2,500 years earlier than previously thought. In Canada, a federal election is scheduled after the Conservative minority government fails a vote of non-confidence. Security forces open fire on protesters in Syria, killing at least 20 people. A 6.8-magnitude earthquake hits northeastern Burma, killing at least 75 people. Earthquake in Japan · Middle East and North Africa protests Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
March 27: Tatmadaw Day in Burma 1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, a leading British Whig Party statesman, began his second non-consecutive term as Prime Minister of Great Britain. 1884 – Outraged by a jury's decision to convict a man of manslaughter instead of murder, a mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, US, began three days of rioting. 1958 – Nikita Khrushchev (pictured) became Premier of the Soviet Union following the death of Joseph Stalin. 1975 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, an oil pipeline spanning the length of the U.S. state of Alaska, began. 1981 – The Solidarity movement in Poland staged a warning strike, the biggest strike in the history of the Eastern Bloc, in which at least 12 million Poles walked off their jobs for four hours. 2009 – The dam holding Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Tangerang District, Indonesia, failed, releasing floods that killed at least 100 people. More anniversaries: March 26 – March 27 – March 28 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now March 27, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A panoramic view of Fort Mason Center, part of the Fort Mason complex in San Francisco, California, US, with Russian Hill in the background (behind the sailboat). Fort Mason served as a U.S. Army post for more than 100 years, initially as a coastal defense site and subsequently as a military port facility until 1965. It is currently registered as a National Historic Landmark district.

Photo: Mila Zinkova

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