Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 May 24

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Today's featured article
Miss Meyers (1949 – March 1963) was a chestnut-colored American Quarter Horse racehorse and broodmare. Her sire was American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Hall of Fame member Leo, and her dam was Star's Lou. Miss Meyers raced from 1952 until 1955 and started 59 times. She was also the 1953 World Champion Quarter Running Horse. In her career she won $28,725 (equivalent to about $249,000 as of 2012) on the racetrack as well as 17 races. As a broodmare, she produced the first AQHA Supreme Champion, Kid Meyers, with AQHA Hall of Fame member Three Bars, a Thoroughbred. Miss Meyers was the mother of three other foals and was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 2009. (more...) Recently featured: Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies – Ahalya – Mary Anning Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the British inquiry into the sinking of the RMS Titanic was criticised as a "whitewash" after Lord Mersey (pictured) found that the disaster had not been caused by negligence? ... that Australia women's national basketball team member and two-time WNBL Defensive Player of Year Rachael Flanagan is also a personal trainer? ... that cypress domes are the most common swamp habitat in Florida? ... that Albert André's monograph of his friend Pierre-Auguste Renoir is considered to be "one of the most accurate contemporary accounts of the artist's work"? ... that Kirstie Alley made her debut as Rebecca Howe in the Cheers episode "Home Is the Sailor", replacing Shelley Long's Diane Chambers? ... that Lawrence Berry Washington, a great-grandnephew of George Washington, participated in the California Gold Rush, Bleeding Kansas conflict, and Mexican–American War? ... that the 1st SAS Brigade, a World War II military unit, never actually existed? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
The COTS 2 Falcon 9 successfully launches with the Dragon spacecraft on 22 May 2012. SpaceX launches (pictured) a Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket, the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. A suicide bombing kills more than 120 people in Sana'a, Yemen. Tomislav Nikolić is elected President of Serbia. Danilo Medina is elected President of the Dominican Republic. British singer-songwriter Robin Gibb, a member of the Bee Gees, dies at the age of 62. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
May 24: Saints Cyril and Methodius Day in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Russia; Independence Day in Eritrea (1993) 1883 – New York City opened the Brooklyn Bridge – the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time. 1930 – English aviatrix Amy Johnson landed in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to successfully fly from England to Australia. 1941 – Second World War: The German battleship Bismarck (pictured) sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood in eleven minutes at the Battle of the Denmark Strait. 1962 – Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbited the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule. 2006 – An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary film about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming, was released. More anniversaries: May 23 – May 24 – May 25 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now May 24, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

The Arnolfini Portrait is an oil painting on oak panel dated 1434 by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. This painting is believed to be a portrait of the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, presumably in their home in the Flemish city of Bruges. It is considered one of the most original and complex paintings in Western art history. The illusionism of the painting was remarkable for its time, in part for the rendering of detail, but particularly for the use of light to evoke space in an interior.

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