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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 2008

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November 1

Metallica live in London, 2003

Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. Metallica's line-up has primarily consisted of drummer Lars Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, while going through a number of bassists. Currently, the spot is held by Robert Trujillo. Metallica's early releases included fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship. The band earned a growing fan base in the underground music community and critical acclaim with the 1986 release Master of Puppets, described as one of the most influential and "heavy" thrash metal albums. The band achieved substantial commercial success with its self-titled 1991 album, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. In 2000, Metallica was among several artists who filed a lawsuit against Napster for sharing the band's copyright-protected material for free without the band members' consent. Despite reaching #1 on the Billboard 200, the release of St. Anger alienated many fans with the exclusion of guitar solos and the "steel-sounding" snare drum. The group has won seven Grammy Awards and has had five consecutive albums peak at #1 on the Billboard 200, making Metallica the only band to top the chart five consecutive times. Metallica is the fifth highest-selling music artist since the SoundScan era began tracking sales in 1991. (more...)

Recently featured: Treehouse of HorrorMary ShelleyTang Dynasty


November 2

A Japanese midget submarine is raised from the bed of Sydney Harbour

The attack on Sydney Harbour was a raid during World War II by submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy on the cities of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. On the night of 31 May – 1 June 1942, three Ko-hyoteki class midget submarines, each with a two-member crew, entered Sydney Harbour to sink Allied warships. After being detected and attacked, the crews of two of the midget submarines scuttled their boats and committed suicide without engaging Allied vessels. The third attempted to torpedo the heavy cruiser USS Chicago but instead sank the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors. This midget submarine then disappeared, its fate remaining a mystery until 2006, when amateur scuba divers discovered the wreck off Sydney's northern beaches. Immediately following the raid the five Japanese fleet submarines that carried the midgets to Australia embarked on a campaign to disrupt merchant shipping in eastern Australian waters. The midget submarine attacks are among the best-known examples of Axis naval activity in Australian waters during World War II. The main impact was psychological and popular fear of an impending invasion forced the Australian military to upgrade defences. (more...)

Recently featured: MetallicaTreehouse of HorrorMary Shelley


November 3

Delhi is the second largest metropolis of India, and the eighth largest city in the world by population, with a population greater than 18 million. It is a federally-administered union territory. Located on the banks of river Yamuna in northern India, archaeological evidence suggests that Delhi has been continuously inhabited since at least the 6th century BC. In 1639, Mughal emperor Shahjahan built a new walled city in Delhi which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857. A new capital city, New Delhi, was built during the 1920s. When India gained independence from British rule in 1947, New Delhi was declared its capital and seat of government. As such, New Delhi houses important offices of the federal government, including the Parliament of India. Owing to the immigration of people from across the country, Delhi has grown to be a cosmopolitan city. Its rapid development and urbanisation, coupled with the relatively high average income of its population, has transformed the city. Today, Delhi is a major cultural, political, and commercial center of India. (more...)

Recently featured: Attack on Sydney HarbourMetallicaTreehouse of Horror


November 4

To coincide with the 2008 United States presidential election, the featured articles for both major candidates were selected for this day:

John McCain's official portrait
John McCain's official portrait
John McCain (born 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and presidential nominee of the Republican Party in the 2008 United States presidential election. During the Vietnam War, he nearly lost his life in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, he was shot down and held as a prisoner of war until 1973, experiencing episodes of torture; his war wounds have left him with lifelong physical limitations. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, and was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004. (more...)
Barack Obama's official portrait
Barack Obama's official portrait
Barack Obama (born 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2008 United States presidential election. Obama is the first African American to be nominated for president by a major political party. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, serving as the president of the Harvard Law Review. He served three terms in the Illinois Senate and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and was elected to the Senate in November 2004. (more...)

Recently featured: DelhiAttack on Sydney HarbourMetallica


November 5

The possible arrangements of this Rubik's Revenge cube form a group.

A group, in mathematics, is a set together with an operation that combines any two of its elements to form a third element. To qualify as a group, the set and operation must satisfy a few conditions, called group axioms, that are familiar from number systems. The ubiquity of groups in numerous areas—both within and outside mathematics—makes them a central organizational tool in contemporary mathematics. The concept of a group arose from the study of polynomial equations, starting with Évariste Galois in the 1830s. After contributions from other fields such as number theory and geometry, the group notion was generalized and firmly established around 1870. Today, group theory is a very active mathematical discipline that studies groups in their own right. Symmetry groups are widely applied in molecular chemistry and various physical disciplines. (more...)

Recently featured: John McCain/Barack ObamaDelhiAttack on Sydney Harbour


November 6

Mario Vargas Llosa in 2005

Mario Vargas Llosa (born 1936) is a Peruvian writer, politician, journalist, and essayist. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation. Some critics consider him to have had a larger international impact and world-wide audience than any other writer of the Latin American Boom. Vargas Llosa rose to fame in the 1960s with novels such as The Time of the Hero, The Green House, and the monumental Conversation in the Cathedral. He continues to write prolifically across an array of literary genres, including literary criticism and journalism. His novels include comedies, murder mysteries, historical novels, and political thrillers. Many of Vargas Llosa's works are influenced by the writer's perception of Peruvian society and his own experiences as a native Peruvian. Increasingly, however, he has expanded his range, and tackled themes that arise from other parts of the world. Like many Latin American authors, Vargas Llosa has been politically active throughout his career; over the course of his life, he has gradually moved from the political left towards the right. He ran for the Peruvian presidency in 1990 with the center-right Frente Democrático coalition, advocating neoliberal reforms. He has subsequently supported moderate conservative candidates. (more...)

Recently featured: GroupJohn McCain/Barack ObamaDelhi


November 7

A basking Komodo dragon

The Komodo dragon is a species of lizard that inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Gili Dasami, in central Indonesia. A member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae), it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2–3 meters (approximately 6.5–10 ft) and weighing around 70 kilograms (155 lb). Their unusual size is attributed to island gigantism, since there are no other carnivorous animals to fill the niche on the islands where they live, and also to the Komodo dragon's low metabolic rate. As a result of their size, these lizards are apex predators, dominating the ecosystems in which they live. Although Komodo dragons eat mostly carrion, they will also hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals. Mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September. About twenty eggs are deposited in abandoned megapode nests and incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, when insects are most plentiful. Young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and therefore dwell in trees, safe from predators and cannibalistic adults. They take around three to five years to mature, and may live as long as fifty years. In the wild their range has contracted due to human activities and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law, and a national park, Komodo National Park, was founded to aid protection efforts. (more...)

Recently featured: Mario Vargas LlosaGroupJohn McCain/Barack Obama


November 8

"Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" is a 1971 US number-one hit single released on the Gordy (Motown) label, recorded by The Temptations and produced by Norman Whitfield. The second single from their 1971 Sky's the Limit album, "Just My Imagination" was the third of four Temptations songs to go to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The single held the number-one position on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart for two weeks in 1971, from March 27 to April 10, replacing "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin, and replaced by "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night. "Just My Imagination" also held the number-one spot on the Billboard R&B Singles chart for three weeks, from February 27 to March 20. Rolling Stone magazine listed "Just My Imagination" as number 389 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Today, "Just My Imagination" is considered one of the Temptations' signature songs, and is notable for recalling the sound of the group's 1960s recordings. It is also the final Temptations single to feature founding members Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams. During the process of recording and releasing the single, Kendricks departed from the group to begin a solo career, while the ailing Williams was forced to retire from the act for health reasons. (more...)

Recently featured: Komodo dragonMario Vargas LlosaGroup


November 9

External view of the Medway Stand

Priestfield Stadium is a football stadium in Gillingham, Kent, England. It has been the home of Gillingham Football Club since the club's formation in 1893, and was also the temporary home of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club for two seasons during the 1990s. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international matches. The stadium underwent extensive redevelopment during the late 1990s, which has brought its capacity down from nearly 20,000 to a current figure of 11,582. It has four all-seater stands, all constructed since 1997, although one is only of a temporary nature. There are also conference and banqueting facilities and a nightspot named the Blues Rock Café. Despite having invested heavily in its current stadium, Gillingham F.C. has plans to relocate to a new stadium. (more...)

Recently featured: "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" – Komodo dragonMario Vargas Llosa


November 10

Io, with two plumes erupting from its surface

Volcanism on Io, a moon of Jupiter, produces lava flows, volcanic pits, and plumes of sulfur and sulfur dioxide hundreds of kilometres high. This volcanic activity was discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1 imaging scientists. Observations of Io by passing spacecraft and Earth-based astronomers have revealed more than 150 active volcanoes. Io's volcanism makes the satellite one of only four known volcanically active worlds in the solar system. First predicted shortly before the Voyager 1 flyby, the heat source for Io's volcanism comes from tidal heating produced by Io's forced orbital eccentricity. Io's volcanism has led to the formation of hundreds of volcanic centres and extensive lava formations, making the moon the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Three different types of volcanic eruptions have been identified, differing in duration, intensity, lava effusion rate, and whether the eruption occurs within a volcanic pit. Lava flows on Io, tens or hundreds of kilometres long, have primarily basaltic composition, similar to lavas seen on Earth at shield volcanoes such as Kīlauea in Hawaii. As a result of the presence of significant quantities of sulfurous materials in Io's crust and on its surface, during some eruptions, sulfur, sulfur dioxide gas, and pyroclastic material are blown up to 500 kilometres (310 mi) into space, producing large, umbrella-shaped volcanic plumes. (more...)

Recently featured: Priestfield Stadium – "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" – Komodo dragon


November 11

Ronald Niel Stuart

Ronald Niel Stuart (1886–1954) was a British Merchant Navy commodore and Royal Navy captain who was highly commended following extensive and distinguished service at sea over a period of more than 35 years. During World War I he received the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, the French Croix de Guerre avec Palmes and the United States' Navy Cross for a series of daring operations he conducted while serving in the Royal Navy during the First Battle of the Atlantic. Stuart's Victoria Cross was awarded following a ballot by the men under his command. This unusual method of selection was used after the Admiralty Board was unable to choose which members of the crew deserved the honour after a desperate engagement between a Q-ship and a German submarine off the Irish coast. His later career included command of the liner RMS Empress of Britain and the management of the London office of a major transatlantic shipping company. Following his retirement in 1951, Stuart moved into his sister's cottage in Kent and died three years later. A sometimes irascible man, he was reportedly embarrassed by any fuss surrounding his celebrity and was known to exclaim "Mush!" at any demonstration of strong emotion. (more...)

Recently featured: Volcanism on IoPriestfield Stadium – "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)"


November 12

Joe Sakic

Joe Sakic (born 1969) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre of Croatian origin, who has played his entire National Hockey League career with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise. In his 19-year tenure, Sakic has won various NHL trophies, including two Stanley Cups, and has been voted into 13 NHL All-Star Games. Named captain of the team in 1992, he is regarded as one of the strongest team leaders to ever play in the league, and has been able to motivate his team throughout his entire career to play at a winning level. Over the course of his career, Sakic has been one of the most productive forwards in the game, having twice scored 50 goals and earning at least 100 points in six different seasons. His wrist shot, considered to be one of the best in the NHL, has been the source of much of his production. At the conclusion of the 2007–08 NHL season, he was the 8th all-time points leader in the NHL, as well as 14th in all-time goals and 11th in all-time assists. During the 2002 Winter Olympics, Sakic helped lead Team Canada to its first gold medal in 50 years, and was voted as the tournament's most valuable player. (more...)

Recently featured: Ronald Niel StuartVolcanism on IoPriestfield Stadium


November 13

Adolf Hitler

The anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany was the first public anti-smoking campaign in modern history. Anti-tobacco movements grew in many nations from the beginning of the 20th century, but these had little success except in Germany where the campaign was supported by the government after the Nazis came to power. It was the most powerful anti-smoking movement in the world in the 1930s and early 1940s. The Nazi leadership condemned smoking and several of them openly criticized tobacco consumption. Research on smoking and its effects on health thrived under Nazi rule and was the most important of its type at that time. Hitler's personal distaste for tobacco and the Nazi reproductive policies were among the motivating factors behind their campaign against smoking, and this campaign was associated with both antisemitism and racism. The Nazi anti-tobacco campaign included banning smoking in trams, buses and city trains, promoting health education, limiting cigarette rations in the Wehrmacht, organizing medical lectures for soldiers and raising the tobacco tax. The Nazis also imposed restrictions on tobacco advertising, tobacco rationing for women, and smoking in public spaces, and they regulated restaurants and coffeehouses. The anti-tobacco movement did not have much effect in the early years of the Nazi regime and tobacco use increased between 1933 and 1939, but smoking by military personnel declined from 1939 to 1945. (more...)

Recently featured: Joe SakicRonald Niel StuartVolcanism on Io


November 14

Surtsey, sixteen days after the onset of the eruption

Surtsey is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland, the southernmost point of Iceland. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres (426 ft) below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1963. The eruption may have started a few days earlier and lasted until 5 June 1967, when the island reached its maximum size of 2.7 km2 (1.0 sq mi). Since then, wind and wave erosion has caused the island to steadily diminish in size: as of 2002, its surface area was 1.4 km2 (0.54 sq mi). The new island was named after the fire giant Surtr from Norse mythology, and was intensively studied by volcanologists during its creation and, since the end of the eruption, has been of great interest to botanists and biologists as life has gradually colonised the originally barren island. The undersea vents that produced Surtsey are part of the Vestmannaeyjar (Westmann Isles) submarine volcanic system, part of the fissure of the sea floor called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Vestmannaeyjar also produced the famous eruption of Eldfell on the island of Heimaey in 1973. The eruption that created Surtsey also created a few other small islands along this volcanic chain, such as Jólnir and other unnamed peaks. Most of these eroded away fairly quickly. (more...)

Recently featured: Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi GermanyJoe SakicRonald Niel Stuart


November 15

The steam crane at Mount Sion, on the Bury arm

The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, North West England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was 15 milesfurlong (24.3 km) long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford. Seventeen locks were required to climb to the summit as it passed through Pendleton, heading northwest to Prestolee before it split northwest to Bolton and northeast to Bury. The canal was commissioned in 1791 by local landowners and businessmen and built between 1791 and 1808, during the Golden Age of canal building, at a cost of £127,700. Originally designed for narrow gauge boats, the canal was altered during its construction into a broad gauge canal to allow an ultimately unrealised connection with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The majority of the freight carried was coal from local collieries but, as the mines reached the end of their working lives, sections of the canal fell into disuse and disrepair and it was officially abandoned in 1961. In 1987, a society was formed with the aim of restoring the canal for leisure use and, in 2006, restoration began in the area around the junction with the River Irwell in Salford. The canal is currently navigable as far as East Ordsall Lane, in Salford. (more...)

Recently featured: SurtseyAnti-tobacco movement in Nazi GermanyJoe Sakic


November 16

Phan Xich Long

Phan Xich Long (1893–1916) was a 20th-century Vietnamese mystic and geomancer who claimed to be the Emperor of Vietnam. He attempted to exploit religion as a cover for his own political ambitions, having started his own ostensibly religious organisation. Claiming to be a descendant of Emperor Ham Nghi, Long staged a ceremony to crown himself, before trying to seize power in 1913 by launching an armed uprising against the colonial rule of French Indochina. His supporters launched an attack on Saigon in March 1913, drinking potions that purportedly made them invisible and planting bombs at several locations. The insurrection against the French colonial administration failed when none of the bombs detonated and the supposedly invisible supporters were apprehended. The French authorities imprisoned Long and many of his supporters, who openly admitted their aim of overthrowing French authorities at the trial. In 1916, southern Vietnam was hit by uprisings against French rule, with many of Long's supporters attempting to break him out of jail. The French easily repelled the attack on the jail, decimating Long's movement. Following the attempted breakout, Long and his key supporters were put to death. Many of the remnants of his support base went on to join what later became the Cao Dai, a major religious sect in Vietnam. (more...)

Recently featured: Manchester Bolton & Bury CanalSurtseyAnti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany


November 17

Opeth performing at the Download Festival in June 2006

Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band that formed in 1990 in Stockholm. While the band has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force since joining shortly after its inception. While firmly rooted in Scandinavian death metal, Opeth has consistently incorporated influence by progressive music, folk, blues rock and jazz into their usually lengthy songs. Many compositions include acoustic guitar interludes and strong dynamic shifts, as well as both growling and clean vocals. Though they rarely toured in support of their first four albums, Opeth conducted their first world tour after the 2001 release of Blackwater Park. Opeth has released nine studio albums, two live albums, two box sets, and two DVDs. The band released its debut album Orchid in 1995, but did not experience American commercial success until the 2003 release of seventh effort Damnation which debuted at number 192 on the Billboard 200. Opeth's ninth studio album, Watershed, was released on June 3, 2008 and entered the Billboard 200 at #23. (more...)

Recently featured: Phan Xich LongManchester Bolton & Bury CanalSurtsey


November 18

Congregation Beth Elohim sanctuary entrance

Congregation Beth Elohim is a Jewish Reform congregation located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 1861 as a more liberal breakaway from Congregation Baith Israel, in its first 65 years it attempted four mergers with other congregations, including three with Baith Israel, all of which failed. The congregation completed its current Classical Revival synagogue building in 1910 and its "Jewish Deco" (Romanesque Revival and Art Deco) Temple House in 1929. The congregation went through difficult times during the Great Depression, and the bank almost foreclosed on its buildings in 1946. Membership dropped significantly in the 1930s because of the Depression, and again in the 1970s as a result of demographic shifts. Programs for young children helped draw Jewish families back into the neighborhood and revitalize the membership. By 2006 Beth Elohim had over 1000 members, and, as of 2008, it was the largest Reform congregation in Brooklyn, the "oldest Brooklyn congregation that continues to function under its corporate name", and its pulpit was the oldest in continuous use in any Brooklyn synagogue. (more...)

Recently featured: OpethPhan Xich LongManchester Bolton & Bury Canal


November 19

Breeding plumage T. b. cristata

The Greater Crested Tern is a seabird in the tern family, which nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World. Its five subspecies breed in the area from South Africa around the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific and Australia, all populations dispersing widely from the breeding range after nesting. The Greater Crested Tern has grey upperparts, white underparts, a yellow bill, and a shaggy black crest which recedes in winter. Its young have a distinctive appearance, with strongly patterned grey, brown and white plumage, and rely on their parents for food for several months after they have fledged. Like all members of the genus Thalasseus, the Greater Crested Tern feeds by plunge diving for fish, usually in marine environments; the male offers fish to the female as part of the courtship ritual. This is an adaptable species which has learned to follow fishing boats for jettisoned bycatch, and to utilise unusual nest sites such as the roofs of buildings and artificial islands in salt pans and sewage works. Its eggs and young are taken by gulls and ibises, and human activities such as fishing, shooting and egg harvesting have caused local population declines. There are no global conservation concerns for this bird, which has a stable total population of more than 500,000 individuals. (more...)

Recently featured: Congregation Beth ElohimOpethPhan Xich Long


November 20

The Rokeby Venus

The Rokeby Venus is a painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the National Gallery, London. Completed between 1647 and 1651, and probably painted during the artist's visit to Italy, the work depicts the goddess Venus in an erotic pose, lying on a bed and looking into a mirror held by the god of sensual love, her son Cupid. Numerous works, from the ancient to the baroque, have been cited as sources of inspiration for Velázquez. The nude Venuses of the Italian painters, such as Giorgione's Sleeping Venus (c. 1510) and Titian's Venus of Urbino (1538), were the main precedents. In this work, Velázquez combined two established poses for Venus: recumbent on a couch or a bed, and gazing at her reflection in a mirror. In a number of ways the painting represents a pictorial departure; through its central use of a mirror, and because it shows the body of Venus turned away from the picture's viewer. The Rokeby Venus is the only surviving female nude by Velázquez. The painting adorned the houses of Spanish courtiers until 1813 when it was brought to England to hang in Rokeby Park, Yorkshire. In 1906, the painting was purchased by National Art Collections Fund for the National Gallery, London. Although it was attacked and badly damaged in 1914 by the suffragette Mary Richardson, it was soon fully restored and returned to display. (more...)

Recently featured: Greater Crested TernCongregation Beth ElohimOpeth


November 21

This geometrical symbol is used to represent the Triforce, an important element in the game's narrative.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a 1998 action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console. Originally developed for the Nintendo 64DD peripheral, the game was instead released on a 32-megabyte cartridge, at the time the largest-capacity cartridge Nintendo had produced. Ocarina of Time is the fifth game in The Legend of Zelda series in terms of release, but is set before the first four games. The player controls the series' trademark protagonist, Link, in the land of Hyrule. Link sets out on a quest to stop Ganondorf, King of the Gerudo, from obtaining the Triforce (shape pictured), a sacred relic that grants the wishes of its holder. Link travels through time and navigates several dungeons to awaken sages who have the power to seal Ganondorf. Music plays an important role—to progress, the player learns several songs for Link to play on his ocarina or the Ocarina of Time. The game received wide critical acclaim and commercial success. It won the Grand Prize in the Interactive Art division at the Japan Media Arts Festival, and won six honors at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Despite a November 1998 release, it was the best-selling game of that year, and has sold over 7.6 million copies. (more...)

Recently featured: Rokeby VenusGreater Crested TernCongregation Beth Elohim


November 22

A solution (in pink) to Apollonius' problem

The Problem of Apollonius is a challenge in Euclidean plane geometry to construct circles that are tangent to three given circles in a plane. Apollonius of Perga posed and solved this famous problem in his work Ἐπαφαί ("Tangencies"); this work has been lost, but a 4th-century report of his results by Pappus of Alexandria has survived. Three given circles generically have eight different circles that are tangent to them and each solution circle encloses or excludes the three given circles in a different way. In the 16th century, Adriaan van Roomen solved the problem using intersecting hyperbolas, but this solution does not use only straightedge and compass constructions. François Viète found such a solution by exploiting limiting cases: any of the three given circles can be shrunk to zero radius (a point) or expanded to infinite radius (a line). Viète's approach, which uses simpler limiting cases to solve more complicated ones, is considered a plausible reconstruction of Apollonius' method. The method of van Roomen was simplified by Isaac Newton, who showed that Apollonius' problem is equivalent to finding a position from the differences of its distances to three known points. This has applications to navigation and positioning systems such as GPS. Later mathematicians introduced algebraic methods, which transform a geometric problem into algebraic equations. (more...)

Recently featured: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeRokeby VenusGreater Crested Tern


November 23

The Doctor Who missing episodes are the many instalments of the long-running British science fiction television programme Doctor Who of which no known film or videotape copies exist. They were wiped by the BBC during the 1960s and 1970s for a variety of economic and space-saving reasons. In all, there are 27 serials that do not exist in complete form in the BBC's archives, because 108 of 253 episodes produced during the first six years of the programme are missing. Many more were thought to have been so in the past before episodes were recovered from a variety of sources, most notably overseas broadcasters. Doctor Who is not unique in this respect, as thousands of hours of programming from across all genres were destroyed up until 1978, when the BBC's archiving policies were changed. Unlike other series, Doctor Who is unique in having all of its missing episodes surviving in audio form, recorded off-air by fans at home. Additionally, every 1970s episode exists in some form, which is not the case for several other series. Efforts to locate missing episodes continue, both by the BBC and by fans of the series. Extensive restoration has been carried out on many surviving and recovered 1960s and 1970s episodes for release on VHS and more recently on DVD. (more...)

Recently featured: Apollonius' problemThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeRokeby Venus


November 24

A sample of Yttrium

Yttrium is a chemical element with atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanoids and has historically been classified as a rare-earth element. Yttrium is almost always found combined with the lanthanoids in rare-earth minerals and is never found in nature as a free element. Its only stable isotope, 89Y, is also its only naturally occurring isotope. In 1787, Carl Axel Arrhenius found a new mineral near Ytterby in Sweden and named it ytterbite, after the village. Johan Gadolin discovered yttrium's oxide in Arrhenius' sample in 1789, and Anders Gustaf Ekeberg named the new oxide yttria. Elemental yttrium was first isolated in 1828 by Friedrich Wöhler. The most important use of yttrium compounds is in making phosphors, such as the red ones used in television cathode ray tube displays and in LEDs. Other uses include the production of electrodes, electrolytes, electronic filters, lasers and superconductors; various medical applications; and as traces in various materials to enhance their properties. Yttrium has no known biological role. Exposure to yttrium compounds can cause lung disease in humans. (more...)

Recently featured: Doctor Who missing episodesApollonius' problemThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time


November 25

David I of Scotland

David I (1083–1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots. The youngest son of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada and Margaret, David spent most of his childhood in Scotland, but was exiled to England in 1093. At some point, perhaps after 1100, he became a hanger-on at the court of King Henry I and experienced long exposure to Norman and Anglo-French culture. When David's brother Alexander I of Scotland died in 1124, David chose, with the backing of Henry I, to take the Kingdom of Scotland (Alba) for himself. He was forced to engage in warfare against his rival and nephew, Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair. Subduing the latter took David ten years, and involved the destruction of Óengus, Mormaer of Moray. David's victory allowed him to expand his control over more distant regions theoretically part of his Kingdom. After the death of his former patron Henry I, David supported the claims of Henry's daughter and his own niece, the former Empress-consort, Matilda, to the throne of England; in the process, he came into conflict with King Stephen and was able to expand his power in northern England, despite his defeat at the Battle of the Standard in 1138. The term "Davidian Revolution" is used by many scholars to summarise the changes which took place in the Kingdom of Scotland during his reign. (more...)

Recently featured: YttriumDoctor Who missing episodesApollonius' problem


November 26

Wembley Stadium

The 1956 FA Cup Final was the final match of the 1955–56 staging of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup. The showpiece event was contested between Manchester City and Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday 5 May 1956. Manchester City's victories were close affairs, each settled by the odd goal, and they needed a replay to defeat fifth-round opponents Liverpool. Birmingham City made more comfortable progress: they scored eighteen goals while conceding only two, and won each match at the first attempt despite being drawn to play on their opponents' ground in every round. They became the first team to reach an FA Cup final without playing at home. Birmingham entered the match as favourites, in a contest billed as a contrast of styles. Watched by a crowd of 100,000 and a television audience of five million, Manchester City took an early lead through Joe Hayes, but Noel Kinsey equalised midway through the first half. Second half goals from Jack Dyson and Bobby Johnstone gave Manchester City a 3–1 victory. The match is best remembered for the heroics of Manchester City goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann, who continued playing despite breaking a bone in his neck in a collision with Birmingham's Peter Murphy. (more...)

Recently featured: David I of ScotlandYttriumDoctor Who missing episodes


November 27

Harvey Milk in 1978

Harvey Milk (1930–1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. Milk moved to San Francisco in 1972 and opened a camera store. He settled in the Castro District, a neighborhood that was experiencing a mass immigration of gay men and lesbians. He ran for city supervisor in 1973, though he encountered resistance from the existing gay political establishment. His campaign was compared to theater; he was brash, outspoken, animated, and outrageous, earning media attention and votes, although not enough to be elected. He campaigned again in the next two supervisor elections, dubbing himself the "Mayor of Castro Street". Voters responded enough to warrant his running for the California State Assembly as well. Taking advantage of his growing popularity, he led the gay political movement in fierce battles against anti-gay initiatives. Milk was elected city supervisor in 1977 after San Francisco reorganized its election procedures to choose representatives from neighborhoods rather than through city-wide ballots. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned and wanted his job back. Milk has become an icon in San Francisco and "a martyr for gay rights", according to University of San Francisco professor Peter Novak. (more...)

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November 28

A CT scan showing a pulmonary contusion (red arrow)

A pulmonary contusion is a contusion (bruise) of the lung, caused by chest trauma. As a result of damage to capillaries, blood and other fluids accumulate in the lung tissue. The excess fluid interferes with gas exchange, potentially leading to inadequate oxygen levels (hypoxia). Unlike pulmonary laceration, another type of lung injury, pulmonary contusion does not involve a cut or tear of the lung tissue. A pulmonary contusion usually is caused by blunt trauma but also is caused by explosions or a shock wave associated with penetrating trauma. With the use of explosives during World Wars I and II, pulmonary contusion resulting from blasts gained recognition. In the 1960s its occurrence began to receive wider recognition in civilians, for whom it is usually caused by traffic accidents. Often nothing more than supplemental oxygen and close monitoring is needed; however, intensive care may be required. The severity ranges from mild to deadly—small contusions may have little or no impact on the patient's health—yet pulmonary contusion is the most common type of potentially lethal chest trauma. With an estimated mortality rate of 14–40%, pulmonary contusion plays a key role in determining whether an individual will die or suffer serious ill effects as the result of trauma. (more...)

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November 29

Angus Macdonald

Angus Lewis Macdonald (1890–1954) was a Nova Scotian lawyer, law professor and politician. He served as the Liberal premier of Nova Scotia from 1933 to 1940 when he became the federal minister of defence for naval services. He oversaw the creation of an effective Canadian navy and Allied convoy service during World War II. After the war, he returned to Nova Scotia to become premier again. In the election of 1945, his Liberals swept back into power while their main rivals, the Conservatives, failed to win a single seat. The Liberal rallying cry, "All's Well With Angus L." seemed so convincing that the Conservatives despaired of ever beating Macdonald. He died suddenly in office in 1954. Macdonald's more than 15 years as premier brought fundamental changes. Under his leadership, the Nova Scotian government spent more than $100 million paving roads, building bridges, extending electrical systems and improving public education. Macdonald dealt with the mass unemployment of the Great Depression by putting the jobless to work on highway projects. Macdonald was one of the most eloquent political orators in Nova Scotian history. He articulated a philosophy of provincial autonomy, arguing that poorer provinces needed a greater share of national tax revenues to pay for health, education and welfare. (more...)

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November 30

The Sultan's harem after the bombardment

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted around 40 minutes and is the shortest war in recorded history. The immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash. In accordance with a treaty signed in 1886, a condition for accession to the sultancy was that the candidate obtain the permission of the British Consul, and Khalid had not fulfilled this requirement. The British considered this a casus belli and sent an ultimatum to Khalid demanding that he order his forces to stand down and leave the palace. In response, Khalid called up his palace guard and barricaded himself inside the palace. The ultimatum expired at 9:00 am East Africa Time (EAT) on 27 August, by which time the British had gathered three cruisers, two gunships, 150 marines and sailors and 900 Zanzibaris in the harbour area. The Royal Navy contingent were under the command of Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson whilst the Zanzibaris were commanded by Brigadier-General Lloyd Mathews of the Zanzibar army. A bombardment was opened at 9:02 am which set the palace on fire and disabled the defending artillery. The flag at the palace was shot down and fire ceased at 9:40 am. The Sultan's forces sustained roughly 500 casualties, while only one British sailor was injured. (more...)

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