Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 July 2

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From today's featured article

The grey jay (Perisoreus canadensis) is a bird of the crow family, Corvidae. It is found in boreal forests of North America north to the tree line, and in the Rocky Mountains subalpine zone south to New Mexico and Arizona. A fairly large songbird, it has pale grey underparts, darker grey upperparts, and a grey-white head with a darker grey nape. Grey jays live on permanent territories in coniferous forests, surviving in winter months on food cached throughout their territory in warmer periods. The birds form monogamous mating pairs, accompanied by a juvenile from the previous season. Grey jays adapt to human activity in their territories and may approach humans for food. The species is associated with mythological figures of several First Nations cultures, including Wisakedjak, a benevolent figure whose name was anglicized to whisky jack, another name for the bird. In 2016, an expert panel and online poll conducted by Canadian Geographic magazine recommended the grey jay as the national bird of Canada. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Polish mead

... that in 2013, Poland became the world's largest producer of mead made according to traditional methods (example pictured)?
... that Gonçalo Teixeira Corrêa crossed China in the 1620s to train the Ming army in modern artillery, but lost his life to a mutineer's arrow?
... that the hymn "Breathe on Me, Breath of God" was described as being so simple it belied the education and knowledge of its author, Professor Edwin Hatch?
... that Richard Painter, chief ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush, is suing President Trump for his alleged violation of the US Constitution?
... that the video game Remember Me was appraised by its developer as the digital view of human identity compared to its analog counterpart, Life Is Strange?
... that the Peter Cornelius Conservatory in Mainz celebrated 125 years of music education by moving to a new building?
... that Alabama was one of six U.S. states to not have a human trafficking law before state legislator Merika Coleman successfully cosponsored a bill criminalizing it?
... that basketball player Alex Owumi was trapped in a Benghazi apartment for weeks during the Libyan Civil War?

In the news

Petya's ransom note displayed on a compromised system

Cyberattacks on Ukraine spread a new variant of the Petya malware (ransom note pictured) around the world and cause severe disruptions.
An anti-government coalition uses a police helicopter to attack the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and the Interior Ministry of Venezuela.
In sailing, the America's Cup concludes with Emirates Team New Zealand defeating Oracle Team USA.
An oil truck explosion in Ahmedpur East, Pakistan, kills at least 150 people and injures more than 100 others.
The World Health Organization estimates that 200,000 people in Yemen have been infected with cholera.

On this day...

July 2: Feast day of Martinian and Processus (Roman Catholic Church)

Amelia Earhart

626 – During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Prince Li Shimin led his forces to assassinate his rival brothers in a coup for the imperial throne of the Tang dynasty.
1644 – The combined forces of the Scottish Covenanters and the English Parliamentarians defeated the Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moor, one of the decisive encounters of the English Civil War.
1816 – The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft, which was depicted in Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa.
1917 – White residents of East St. Louis, Illinois, burned sections of the city and shot black inhabitants as they escaped the flames.
1937 – Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart (pictured) and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight.

Theodoor Rombouts (b. 1597) · Robert Peel (d. 1850) · Leonard J. Arrington (b. 1917)

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Today's featured picture

Augustus Brine (1769–1840) as a midshipman in 1782. The son of Admiral James Brine, he joined the Royal Navy at age 13 and served on his father's ship during the American War of Independence. He was commissioned a lieutenant in 1790 and took his first command during the French Revolutionary Wars. Promoted to commander in 1798, he served at the Cape of Good Hope by 1798. His final combat engagement was in the Napoleonic Wars, when he commanded HMS Medway as flag captain to Vice-Admiral Charles Tyler.

Painting: John Singleton Copley

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