Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 July 5

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From today's featured article

SheiKra is a steel Dive Coaster roller coaster at the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay amusement park in Tampa, Florida, United States. The name is derived from "shikra", an Asian-African hawk that is known to dive vertically for its prey. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride was planned to reach a height of approximately 160 feet (49 m), but this was later changed to 200 feet (61 m). It reaches a maximum speed of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h), and has a total track length of 3,188 feet (972 m). It opened in 2005, and was converted to a floorless roller coaster in 2007, following the opening of its sister Dive Coaster Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. SheiKra was the first Dive Coaster to be constructed in North America; it was also the first of its kind to feature a vertical drop, a splashdown and an Immelmann loop. It broke the records for the world's longest, tallest, and fastest Dive Coaster, but has since lost these records. In 2005, Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards voted it the fourth-best new steel roller coaster of that year (in a three-way tie) and the 28th-best steel roller coaster. It was voted the 30th-best steel roller coaster in 2012. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's newest content:

... that Crown Prince Tēvita ʻUnga (pictured) served as the first Prime Minister of Tonga and composed the words to the national anthem?

... that the colors of the Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway's streetcars made them "more attractive to the students" of the University of Virginia?

... that Peter Wickens Fry reputedly experimented with photogenic drawing before Henry Fox Talbot developed the calotype process in 1841?

... that John Rocque's Map of London, 1746, has been considered "one of the greatest and most handsome plans of any city"?

... that Confederate colonel Angus William McDonald previously served as superintendent of the Northwestern Turnpike and as a commissioner to resolve a Virginia–Maryland boundary dispute?

... that podium girls are employed to present the winners of cycle races with prizes and kisses?

... that Rat, Bat, Mole, and Mouse are Purdy Islands?

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In the news

Mohamed Morsi (pictured) is deposed as President of Egypt in a coup d'état amid mass protests.

King Albert II of Belgium announces his intention to abdicate in favour of his son Philippe.

An earthquake strikes Aceh, Indonesia, killing at least 42 people.

The International Astronomical Union approves the names Kerberos and Styx for Pluto's fourth and fifth moons.

The United Nations mission MINUSMA begins its operative mandate in Mali.

Nineteen firefighters are killed battling a wildfire in the U.S. state of Arizona.

Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.

Recent deaths: Douglas Engelbart

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On this day...

July 5: Aphelion (14:44 UTC, 2013); Independence Day in Cape Verde (1975) and Venezuela (1811); Saints Cyril and Methodius Day in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

1687 – The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton (pictured) was first published, describing his laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation.

1937 – The Hormel Foods Corporation introduced Spam, the canned precooked meat product that would eventually enter into pop culture, folklore, and urban legend.

1950 – Korean War: In the first encounter between North Korean and American forces, the unprepared and undisciplined U.S. Army task force was routed.

2006 – The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting hours after North Korea reportedly tested at least seven separate ballistic missiles.

2009 – A series of violent riots broke out in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.

More anniversaries: July 4 – July 5 – July 6

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Today's featured picture

The western terrestrial garter snake (Thamnophis elegans) is a species of colubrid snake found in southwestern Canada and the western United States. It is the only species of garter snake with a well-documented tendency to constrict prey.

Photograph: Steve Jurvetson

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