Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 December 21

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From today's featured article
Worlds End State Park is a 780-acre (316 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The park, nearly surrounded by Loyalsock State Forest, is in the Loyalsock Creek valley, southeast of the borough of Forksville. The name Worlds End has been used since at least 1872, but its origins are uncertain and the park was officially known as Whirls End State Forest Park from 1936 to 1943. The park's land was once home to Native Americans, followed by settlers who cleared the land for subsistence farming and later built sawmills. The second growth forests in and surrounding Worlds End State Park are partially a result of the efforts of the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. They helped overcome the clearcutting of the early 20th century, and built many of the park's facilities, including the cabins that have earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places. A wide variety of wildlife is found in the park, which is also part of an Important Bird Area. The park offers year-round recreational opportunities, including environmental education, hiking, camping, whitewater rafting, swimming, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, hunting, and fishing. (Full article...) Recently featured: 2012 phenomenon – James Tod – Final Fantasy Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Amdavad ni Gufa (pictured), a cave-like underground art gallery in Ahmedabad designed by B. V. Doshi, exhibits works of M F Husain? ... that the video game Wizorb was originally released for a game console, but the developers recommend using a mouse over a gamepad for the PC version? ... that after Nik Stauskas became Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week, he scored twenty points in back-to-back games to earn the honor again? ... that climbing routes on Gibraltar Rock include Crime of Passion, Illusions of Grandeur, and Rooster Carnage? ... that Andy McDonald, the newly elected Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough, has already worked with parliamentarians as a special adviser to the Defence Select Committee? ... that defence may not have been the primary function of Cornwall's cliff castles? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Park Geun-hye (pictured) is elected President of South Korea, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Swiss bank UBS is fined US$1.5 billion for its role in the Libor scandal. Former Congolese militia leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui is acquitted by the International Criminal Court of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Shinzō Abe is elected Prime Minister of Japan as the Liberal Democratic Party gains an absolute majority in the House of Representatives. Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are dead following a shooting at an elementary school in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Recent deaths: Daniel Inouye – Dina Manfredini – Páidí Ó Sé Syrian civil war – Wikinews – More current events...
On this day...
December 21: December solstice (11:12 UTC, 2012); Yule and other winter solstice festivals (Northern Hemisphere, 2012) 1844 – The Rochdale Pioneers, usually considered the first successful co-operative enterprise, opened their store (pictured) in Rochdale, England, and formed the basis for the modern co-operative movement. 1879 – A Doll's House, a controversial play by Henrik Ibsen that challenged 19th century marriage norms, premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark. 1910 – In the second worst mining accident in England, an underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit killed 344 people. 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length cel-animated feature in film history, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. 1969 – The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which 86 member nations have since signed. More anniversaries: December 20 – December 21 – December 22 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now December 21, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

An animated image showing projections of stratospheric ozone concentrations if chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) had not been banned. CFCs and other halogenated ozone-depleting substances are mainly responsible for man-made chemical ozone depletion. Since the ozone layer absorbs UVB ultraviolet light, its depletion is expected to increase surface UVB levels, which could lead to damage, including increase in skin cancer.

Image: NASA/GSFC/Fallschirmjäger

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