Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 November 27

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From today's featured article

Almirante Latorre in 1921

The Almirante Latorre class consisted of two super-dreadnought battleships designed by the British company Armstrong Whitworth for the Chilean Navy, named for Admirals Juan José Latorre and Thomas Cochrane. Construction began on 27 November 1911, but both were purchased and renamed by the Royal Navy prior to completion for use in the First World War. Almirante Latorre (pictured) was commissioned into British service as HMS Canada in October 1915 and spent its wartime service with the Grand Fleet, seeing action in the Battle of Jutland. The ship was sold back to Chile in 1920, assuming its former name. Almirante Latorre‍ 's crew instigated a naval mutiny in 1931. After a major refit in 1937, she patrolled Chile's coast during the Second World War. Almirante Cochrane was converted to an aircraft carrier and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Eagle in 1924. It served in the Mediterranean Fleet and on the China Station in the inter-war period and operated in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during the Second World War before being sunk in August 1942 during Operation Pedestal. (Full article...)

Part of the South American dreadnought race series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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Did you know...

Amaranth

... that the cultivation of the ancient grain amaranth (pictured) was banned by Spanish colonial authorities due to its religious significance to the Aztecs?
... that Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly opined that A Very Gaga Thanksgiving was "disarmingly direct, sincere, and unpretentious"?
... that Relativity Media sold The Space Between Us to another studio to avoid having to file for bankruptcy?
... that Mitter Bedi "almost single-handedly built up industrial photography in India"?
... that Krispy Kreme has provided free coffee and doughnuts in commemoration of National Coffee Day?
... that brigadier Andrew Massey served in Oman, Dhofar, and Northern Ireland before retiring?
... that Barry Cryer gave his name to a rule of Celebrity Fifteen to One after becoming the only contestant to miss both of his first two questions?
... that a baby in a bathtub purportedly haunts Jewett House?

In the news

Kyle Busch

A Russian Su-24 warplane is shot down by a Turkish Air Force F-16 near the border between Turkey and Syria.
American Pfizer and Irish Allergan agree to a merger that will create the world's largest pharmaceutical company.
More than 100 people are killed in a landslide at a jade mine in Kachin State, Myanmar.
In motorsport, Kyle Busch (pictured) wins the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
Cambiemos candidate Mauricio Macri is elected President of Argentina.

Ongoing events:
- Paris attack aftermath
- European migrant crisis
Recent deaths:
- Kim Young-sam
- Kitanoumi Toshimitsu

On this day...

November 27

First Eddystone Lighthouse

1703 – The Great Storm of 1703, one of the most severe storms to strike southern Great Britain, destroyed the first Eddystone Lighthouse (pictured) off Plymouth, England.
1815 – As specified by the Congress of Vienna, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland was signed for the newly recreated Polish state that was under Russian control.
1940 – The Iron Guard killed over 60 political detainees at a penitentiary near Bucharest and followed up with several high-profile assassinations, including that of former Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Iorga.
1975 – Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army assassinated Ross McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, a few weeks after he offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for several recent high-profile bombings that were publicly claimed by the IRA.
2001 – The Hubble Space Telescope detected sodium in the atmosphere of the extrasolar planet HD 209458 b, the first planetary atmosphere outside our solar system to be measured.

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From today's featured list

Ric Flair

The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship in the American promotion WWE. It was originally known as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship and began as a regional championship created by and defended in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Following the title's introduction in 1975, Harley Race became the inaugural champion on January 1. In March 2001, the United States Championship became a title for the then-WWF (now WWE). The championship is contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition. Overall, there have been 81 different champions. Ric Flair (pictured) holds the record for having the most reigns at six, while John Cena holds the record for most reigns under the WWE banner at five. Lex Luger's third reign is the longest by any champion, at 523 days. The current champion is Alberto Del Rio, who is in his first reign. (Full list...)

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Stereum hirsutum is a fungus typically forming multiple brackets on dead wood. It is also a plant pathogen infecting peach trees. S. hirsutum is in turn parasitised by certain other species such as the fungus Tremella aurantia. Substrates for S. hirsutum include dead limbs and trunks of both hardwoods and conifers.

Photograph: Norbert Nagel

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