Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 December 31b

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From today's featured article

The 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl was a postseason bowl game between the college football teams South Carolina Gamecocks and Connecticut Huskies on January 2, 2010, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama; it ended in a 20–7 victory for Connecticut. Both teams had a 7–5 regular season record. Connecticut's tumultuous season had seen a victory at Notre Dame, and the murder of Jasper Howard, their cornerback. Connecticut scored twice in the first quarter: on a one-handed 37-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Kashif Moore and then on a 33-yard field goal after South Carolina failed to convert a fourth-down play at its 32-yard line. Andre Dixon, Connecticut's running back, scored on a 10-yard rush early in the fourth quarter. South Carolina scored its sole touchdown on a two-yard run by Brian Maddox after the game had effectively been decided. Dixon was named player of the game, and finished with 126 rushing yards and one touchdown. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

The twelve lucky grapes

... that in Spain, it is considered lucky to eat twelve grapes while wearing red underwear received as a gift (pictured) at midnight on New Year's Eve?
... that Moldavian rebel Teodor Boldur-Lățescu was twice beaten up on circus grounds: once for insulting Wallachian officers of the Romanian Army, and a second time for cruelty to animals?
... that the Tokio platform for the Rust programming language uses a work stealing scheduler?
... that lingering disabilities led flying ace Johann Frint to join the Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops?
... that the last edition of The Knoxville Journal was printed 30 years ago today after a 106-year run?
... that Adolph Schoeninger faced financial ruin three times before becoming one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the world?
... that Lunt and Fontanne retired from Broadway after the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre was renamed after them?
... that Karolína Huvarová quipped that she earned her position as men's hockey coach "in bed"?

In the news

Pat Cummins

In Hong Kong, Stand News closes down after its staff are arrested for sedition.
The Supreme Court of Russia orders the closure of Memorial, Russia's oldest human rights group, for violations of the foreign agent law.
In cricket, Australia (captain Pat Cummins pictured) retains the Ashes after winning the first three Tests against England.
South African archbishop and human rights activist Desmond Tutu dies at the age of 90.

On this day

December 31: Saint Sylvester's Day (Western Christianity)

Painting of helicopter rescue efforts at the Dupont Plaza fire

1225 – Lý Chiêu Hoàng, the only empress regnant in Vietnamese history, married Trần Thái Tông to establish the Trần dynasty, with both the bride and groom aged seven.
1862 – The Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, began with an engagement in which both sides would suffer their highest casualty rates in the American Civil War.
1965 – Central African military officers led by Jean-Bédel Bokassa began a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.
1986 – Three disgruntled employees set fire to the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing more than 90 people and injuring 140 others (rescue efforts depicted), making it the second-deadliest hotel fire in United States history.
1998 – The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the exchange rates of the legacy currencies in the eurozone, establishing the value of the euro.

Ibn Hawshab (d. 914)
Samuel Ajayi Crowther (d. 1891)
Junot Díaz (b. 1968)

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From today's featured list

Eastern massasauga

Reptiles are found throughout Michigan, although the only venomous species, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (example pictured), is seen only in the Lower Peninsula. The U.S. state of Michigan is home to two types of lizards, nineteen types of snakes and eleven types of turtles, all members of the class Reptilia. Reptiles are cold-blooded, and so usually pass the cold winters of Michigan in frost-free areas, such as burrows (for snakes and land-dwelling turtles) or the bottoms of lakes and streams (for water-dwelling turtles). Reptile habitats in Michigan are generally split into four regions: the northern and southern Lower Peninsula and the eastern and western Upper Peninsula, with differentiations based on climate, soils, underlying bedrock and glacially derived landforms. Three species of reptiles are considered to be threatened and two species are endangered – these are protected under the Endangered Species Act of the State of Michigan. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Tales of Hoffmann is an opéra fantastique by the French composer Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, the opera's protagonist. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in October 1880, four months before it premiered in Paris. This illustration of the opera's premiere, attributed to Pierre-Auguste Lamy, depicts the Olympia act, based on a portion of Hoffmann's "Der Sandmann".

Illustration credit: Pierre-Auguste Lamy (attributed); restored by Adam Cuerden

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