Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 November 19

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From today's featured article

Freak Out! (1966) is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Mothers of Invention. One of rock music's first concept albums, it is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture. It was also one of the earliest double albums in rock music. It features Zappa on vocals and guitar, along with lead vocalist and tambourine player Ray Collins, bass player and vocalist Roy Estrada, drummer-vocalist Jimmy Carl Black and guitar player Elliot Ingber, who later joined Captain Beefheart's Magic Band under the name Winged Eel Fingerling. The musical content of Freak Out! ranges from rhythm and blues, doo-wop and standard blues-influenced rock to orchestral arrangements and avant-garde sound collages. The album was a success in Europe; in the United States, it was poorly received at first, but gradually gained a cult following. In 1999, the album was honored with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award, and in 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it among the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Isaac T. Stoddard

... that acting Arizona territorial governor Isaac T. Stoddard (pictured) ordered the entire Arizona Territorial Militia sent to control striking miners?
... that the Shoeburyness Boom is the only known Cold War anti-submarine boom?
... that during her compulsory military service, Aya Koren played in an Israeli Air Force band with Yehuda Levi, her future co-star in Yossi & Jagger (2002)?
... that the Transylvanian peasant revolt broke out after the local bishop, having suspended the collection of the tithe for years, demanded the arrears in a single payment?
... that Irish rugby referee Joy Neville was the first woman to be an assistant referee in a men's European Challenge Cup match?
... that the Naval Careers Service is the smallest of the four components of Her Majesty's Naval Service?
... that the hospital in Southern Rhodesia where Theresa Robinson Buck worked was renamed in her honour after her death?
... that bird lice in the genus Colpocephalum are "rapid", allowing them to outrun the preening of their host?

In the news

Salvator Mundi

Salvator Mundi (pictured), generally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sells at auction for US$450.3 million, a new record for an artwork.
Zimbabwe National Army troops seize control of Harare and place President Robert Mugabe under house arrest.
Borut Pahor is re-elected President of Slovenia.
An earthquake strikes the border between Iraq and Iran, killing at least 540 people and injuring more than 8,000 others.
The Paradise Papers—more than 13 million financial documents relating to offshore investment—are leaked.

On this day...

November 19: International Men's Day; World Toilet Day; Liberation Day in Mali

Pelé in 1960

1794 – The United States and Great Britain signed the Jay Treaty, the basis for ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
1863 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
1942 – World War II: Soviet troops launched Operation Uranus at the Battle of Stalingrad, with the goal of encircling Axis forces, turning the tide of the battle in the Soviet Union's favour.
1969 – Playing for Santos against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian footballer Pelé (pictured) scored his one thousandth goal.
2010 – The first of four explosions occurred at the Pike River Mine in the West Coast region of New Zealand in the nation's worst mining disaster in nearly a century.

Billy Sunday (b. 1862) · José Raúl Capablanca (b. 1888) Sun Li-jen (d. 1990)

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Today's featured picture

A dusky lory (Pseudeos fuscata) at Gembira Loka Zoo in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This species is endemic to New Guinea, where it lives in subtropical or tropical forests below heights of 2,500 metres (8,200 ft).

Photograph: Chris Woodrich

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