Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 October 12

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From today's featured article

Charles Domery (c. 1778 – after 1800) was a Polish soldier who had an unusually large appetite. Serving in the Prussian Army during the War of the First Coalition, he deserted to the French Revolutionary Army in return for better rations. He was voraciously hungry; while stationed near Paris, he was recorded as having eaten 174 cats in a year, and would eat 4 to 5 pounds (1.8 to 2.3 kg) of grass each day if he could not find other food. During service on the French frigate Hoche, he attempted to eat the severed leg of a crew member hit by cannon fire, before it was wrestled from him. In 1799 Hoche was captured by British forces, and Domery and the crew were interned in Liverpool. Despite receiving ten times the rations of other inmates, he remained ravenous, eating the prison cat, at least 20 rats, and many prison candles. Domery's case was brought to the attention of the Sick and Hurt Commissioners, who tested his eating capacity by feeding him four bottles of porter and a total of 16 pounds (7.3 kg) of raw cow's udder, raw beef and tallow candles, all of which he ate and drank in a single day without defecating, urinating, or vomiting. (Full article...)

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Waste House on the University of Brighton campus
Waste House on the University of Brighton campus

In the news

Svetlana Alexievich
Svetlana Alexievich

On this day...

October 12: Our Lady Aparecida's Day and Children's Day in Brazil; Thanksgiving in Canada (2015); Health and Sports Day in Japan (2015); Columbus Day and Indigenous People's Day in the United States (2015); Independence Day in Equatorial Guinea (1968); National Day in Spain (1492)

Edith Cavell
Edith Cavell

From today's featured list

Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower
Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower

Thirty-two high-rises stand taller than 295 feet (90 m) in Brooklyn, the most populous of New York City's five boroughs. The current tallest building in Brooklyn is 388 Bridge Street in Downtown Brooklyn, which rises 590 feet (180 m) and was opened in 2014. Avalon Willoughby West, currently under construction in Downtown Brooklyn, is slated to become Brooklyn's tallest building at 596 feet (182 m) following its topping out in 2015. Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower (pictured) in Fort Greene, at 512 feet (156 m), was the tallest building in Brooklyn for 80 years from its completion in 1929 until 2009, when The Brooklyner was topped out at 514 feet (157 m). The Brooklyner and the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower are currently the borough's second and third-tallest buildings. Brooklyn's fourth-tallest building, at 489 feet (149 m), is 66 Rockwell Place, a residential tower that was completed in 2014. (Full list...)

Today's featured picture

The Ninth Wave

The Ninth Wave is an oil painting on canvas completed by the Russian Armenian marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky in 1850. It depicts a sea after a night storm and people facing death attempting to save themselves by clinging to debris from a wrecked ship. The title refers to a belief that waves grow increasingly larger until the largest wave, the ninth (or tenth) wave.

Photograph: Ivan Aivazovsky

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