Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 January 11

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From today's featured article

Peter Badcoe (11 January 1934 – 7 April 1967) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in battle that could be awarded at that time to a member of the Australian armed forces. Badcoe joined the Australian Army in 1950 and graduated from the Officer Cadet School, Portsea, in 1952. Posted to South Vietnam in 1966, Badcoe displayed conspicuous gallantry and leadership on three occasions between February and April 1967. In the final battle, he was killed by a burst of machine-gun fire. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions, as well as the United States Silver Star and several South Vietnamese medals. Badcoe's medal set is now displayed in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Buildings in South Vietnam and Australia have been named after him, as has a perpetual medal at an Australian Football League match held on Anzac Day. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

M42 sub-basement

... that the M42 sub-basement (pictured) was featured in a navy training film as the safest place in New York during a nuclear strike?
... that Paper Mario: Color Splash was accidentally playable two weeks before its launch?
... that Rosalynn Carter's 1984 memoir First Lady from Plains outsold her presidential husband Jimmy Carter's 1982 memoir?
... that the choral conductor Michael Gläser was called in to lead the Thomanerchor in Leipzig when its musical director Georg Christoph Biller fell ill?
... that the People's Liberation Army in China developed the Dongfeng EQ2050 armored vehicle after seeing the Humvee in action on television during the Gulf War?
... that league executives voted ice hockey player Mitchell Miller as one of the best blueliners in the United States Hockey League?
... that Callimachus's Aetia explains how a lock of hair became an astronomical constellation?
... that Archie Andrews has been described as the "simpiest of the simps"?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Vaccines; Portal

Aircraft involved in the accident

Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 (aircraft pictured) crashes north of Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 62 people on board.
Rioters supporting Donald Trump storm the United States Capitol, disrupting certification of the presidential election and forcing Congress to evacuate.
In the United States, the Democratic Party wins control of the Senate, with victories in regular and special Senate elections in Georgia.
Saudi Arabia reopens its border with Qatar, ending a three-year diplomatic crisis.

On this day

January 11: Coming of Age Day in Japan (2021)

Gateway Bridge

1654 – Arauco War: The Mapuche-Huilliche of southern Chile defeated a slave-hunting Spanish army at the Battle of Río Bueno.
1787 – German-born British astronomer William Herschel discovered two Uranian moons, later named Oberon and Titania by his son.
1946 – The People's Republic of Albania was proclaimed, with Enver Hoxha as the country's de facto head of state.
1986 – The Gateway Bridge (pictured) in Brisbane, Australia, opened as the largest prestressed-concrete, single-box bridge in the world.

Socrates Nelson (b. 1814)
Emanuel Lasker (d. 1941)
Tom Parry Jones (d. 2013)

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From today's featured list

Kotor, Montenegro

There are four World Heritage Sites in Montenegro and a further six on the tentative list (the official list of sites that may be considered for future submission). The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Montenegro acceded to the convention on 3 June 2006, although two sites on the list were added when Montenegro was still a part of Yugoslavia. The Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor (pictured) was listed in 1979, and Durmitor National Park was listed in 1980 and extended in 2005. Two sites are shared with other countries: Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards (listed in 2016) and Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th centuries (listed in 2017). (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Ptyas mucosa, the Indian rat snake, is a common species of colubrid snake found in parts of southern and southeastern Asia. Growing to a length of 1.5 to 1.9 m (5 to 6 ft), they are very slender, diurnal and semi-arboreal. They inhabit forest floors, wetlands, rice paddies, and farmland, and are frequently found in urban areas where rodents thrive. They are harmless to humans, but are fast-moving and adept at catching the small mammals, birds, amphibians and other reptiles on which they feed, subduing their prey by lying on and suffocating them.

Photograph credit: Augustus Binu

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