Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 January 17

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From today's featured article

Slay Tracks (1933–1969) is the debut extended play (EP) by the American indie rock band Pavement. The group, then consisting of founding members Stephen Malkmus (pictured in 2005) and Scott Kannberg, recorded Slay Tracks with producer and future member Gary Young during a four-hour session on January 17, 1989. The EP was released as a 7" vinyl record on the band's own record label Treble Kicker. The music in Slay Tracks is influenced by indie and punk rock bands, including Swell Maps and The Fall, and many of the lyrics are inspired by life in the band's hometown of Stockton, California. Although only 1000 copies were pressed, the EP became an underground hit. Most of its initial reviews were from independently produced zines, and it met with generally positive reactions. The songs on Slay Tracks would later appear on the 1993 compilation Westing (By Musket and Sextant), reaching a wider audience than the EP's limited initial release. The release of Slay Tracks was significant to Pavement's signing to Drag City, and later to Matador Records. All of the songs from it were played live throughout Pavement's history. (Full article...)

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From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol (chemical structure pictured) spilled into the Elk River in Charleston, West Virginia, upstream from the intake for tap water servicing up to 300,000 people?
... that friends of Dan Tan, the Singaporean accused of fixing soccer matches on four continents, say he rarely watches the game?
... that the Pass Christian Light was deactivated in part because neighboring property owners refused to trim their trees?
... that to prepare for his role in 1926's Subway Sadie, Jack Mulhall rode a subway for "practically an entire day"?
... that the 1942 Belize hurricane was the only known hurricane to strike Belize in the month of November?
... that East Wind Over Weehawken sold for a record price?
... that at one point, there was more automotive production in Massachusetts than in Detroit, Michigan?

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In the news

Archaeologists discover the tombs of Sobekhotep I and the previously unknown Abydos Dynasty pharaoh, Seneb Kay.
During heavy fighting over Malakal, South Sudan, a Nile ferry carrying refugees sinks, drowning more than 200 people.
In association football, Cristiano Ronaldo (pictured) wins the FIFA Ballon d'Or and Nadine Angerer wins the Women's World Player of the Year award.
Israeli politician and general Ariel Sharon dies after being in a permanent vegetative state for eight years.
Amid civil conflict, Michel Djotodia resigns as President of the Central African Republic.
The United States Senate confirms Janet Yellen as the Federal Reserve System's first female chairman.

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On this day...

January 17: National Day in Minorca (1287)

1377 – Pope Gregory XI (pictured) moved the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon, effectively becoming the last Avignon Pope.
1524 – Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano set sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: American forces won a surprising victory over the British at the Battle of Cowpens, one of the most pivotal battles of the war.
1989 – Patrick Purdy opened fire in an elementary school in Stockton, California, killing five and wounding 30 others.
1991 – Harald V, the current King of Norway, succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father Olav V.

More anniversaries: January 16 – January 17 – January 18

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Today's featured picture

The Chota Imambara in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, is a mausoleum constructed by and for Muhammad Ali Shah, the third Nawab of Awadh, beginning in 1838.

Photograph: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

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