Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 October 11

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From today's featured article

Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the small-leaved fig, is a tree native to eastern Australia, New Guinea, eastern Indonesia to Sulawesi and islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is a banyan of the genus Ficus, which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates, including the edible fig. Beginning life as a seedling, which grows on other plants (epiphyte) or on rocks (lithophyte), F. obliqua can grow to 60 m (200 ft) high and nearly as wide with a pale grey buttressed trunk, and glossy green leaves. The small round yellow fruit ripen and turn red at any time of year, although they peak in autumn and winter (April to July). Known as a syconium, the fruit is an inverted inflorescence with the flowers aligning an internal cavity. F. obliqua is pollinated by two species of fig wasp—Pleistodontes greenwoodi and P. xanthocephalus. Many species of bird, including pigeons, parrots and various passerines, eat the fruit. It is used as a shade tree in parks and public spaces, and is well-suited for use as an indoor plant or in bonsai. All parts of the tree have been used in traditional medicine in Fiji. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that Yazd's Amir Chakhmaq Complex (pictured) contains a bathhouse, caravanserai, confectioner, mosque, and tekyeh?
... that Kjeller Airport, established in 1912, was the first airport in Norway?
... that because American Christian missionary Hulda Stumpf protested against female genital mutilation in Kenya, she was killed and perhaps ritually cut in retribution?
... that Leopold Mozart vacated 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg in 1773 but was in constant touch through letters with his landlord during the Mozart family grand tour between 1763 and 1766?
... that Lectionary 313 and Lectionary 315 were purchased by Baroness Burdett-Coutts, a philanthropist?
... that Lady Mary and her sister Pansy had few childhood friends as they wore such out-of-date clothes?

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In the news

Canadian author Alice Munro wins the Nobel Prize in Literature for her short stories.
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai is announced as the recipient of the Sakharov Prize.
Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel (pictured) win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in computational chemistry.
François Englert and Peter Higgs win the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the origin of mass of subatomic particles.
James Rothman, Randy Schekman, and Thomas Südhof win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research on cell vesicles.

Recent deaths: Scott Carpenter – Ovadia Yosef

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On this day...

October 11: National Coming Out Day (international)

1142 – The Treaty of Shaoxing, ending the Jurchen campaigns against the Song Dynasty, was formally ratified when a Jin envoy visited the Southern Song court.
1531 – Swiss Reformation leader Huldrych Zwingli was killed in battle when Catholic cantons attacked in response to a food blockade being applied by his alliance.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The British Royal Navy defeated American ships at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, but gave American forces enough time to prepare their defenses for the Saratoga campaign.
1968 – Apollo 7 (lift-off pictured), the first manned mission of NASA's Apollo program, and the first three-man American space mission, launched from Complex 34 in present-day Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1987 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The Indian Peace Keeping Force began Operation Pawan to take control of Jaffna from the Tamil Tigers to enforce their disarmament as a part of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord.

More anniversaries: October 10 – October 11 – October 12

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Today's featured picture

The Munich Botanical Garden is a botanical garden and arboretum in Munich, Germany. Established in 1914, today it cultivates about 14,000 species. Pictured here is the garden's main building.

Photo: Diego Delso

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