Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 December 18

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From today's featured article

Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by World Editions and sold two years later to Robert Guinn, the magazine's printer. Its first editor, H. L. Gold, rapidly made Galaxy the leading science fiction magazine of its time, focusing on stories about social issues rather than technology, including Ray Bradbury's "The Fireman" (later expanded as Fahrenheit 451), Robert A. Heinlein's The Puppet Masters, and Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man. Frederik Pohl, who had been doing most of the production work for some time, took over as editor officially in 1961. Until his departure in 1969, Galaxy had continued success, regularly publishing fiction by writers such as Cordwainer Smith, Jack Vance, Harlan Ellison, and Robert Silverberg. At its peak, Galaxy greatly influenced the science fiction field. Gold brought a "sophisticated intellectual subtlety" to magazine science fiction, according to Pohl. Historian David Kyle suggests that Gold's new direction led to the experimental New Wave, the defining science fiction literary movement of the 1960s. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Fiora Contino

... that Peter G. Davis wrote after a performance of Risurrezione that Fiora Contino (pictured) "may be the last conductor on earth with the music of Alfano and his generation in her bloodstream"?
... that Prince Harry assisted with relocating 500 elephants to the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in Malawi?
... that General Li Shangfu spent 31 years at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, where he supervised the launch of the Chang'e 2 lunar probe?
... that the yellow boring sponge inhabits the shells of living scallops and oysters?
... that North Korean footballer Sung Hyang-sim was the top scorer at the 2017 AFC U-19 Women's Championship and named Most Valuable Player?
... that Spanish singer-songwriter Antonio Carmona invited Juanes and Alejandro Sanz and several other performers he admired to record Obras Son Amores since he wanted to "create true reciprocal acts of love"?
... that Eunice Silva organised a nationwide vote to determine the seven wonders of Cape Verde?
... that Ernest Bevin told the Gen 75 Committee that Britain should acquire atomic bombs "whatever it costs... We've got to have the bloody Union Jack flying on top of it"?

In the news

Ajit Pai

The United States Federal Communications Commission (Chairman Ajit Pai pictured) votes to repeal Title II net neutrality rules.
The Walt Disney Company announces its intention to buy most of 21st Century Fox's entertainment divisions, valued at roughly $52.4 billion.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declares victory against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, after capturing the group's remaining territory in the country.
The Parliament of Australia passes legislation to allow same-sex marriage.
Halszkaraptor, a duck-like dinosaur genus thought to have been semiaquatic, is described from a Mongolian fossil.

On this day...

December 18: National Day in Qatar (1878)

Epimetheus

1499 – Muslims in the city of Granada rebelled against their rulers in response to forced conversions to Catholicism.
1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat set the first official land speed record, averaging 63.15 km/h (39.24 mph) over 1 km (0.62 mi).
1939 – Second World War: The Luftwaffe victory over the Royal Air Force in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight greatly influenced both sides' future air strategy.
1963 – Students from Ghana and other African countries organized a protest on Moscow's Red Square in response to the alleged murder of medical student Edmund Assare-Addo.
1966 – Epimetheus (pictured), one of the moons of Saturn, was discovered, but was mistaken for Janus; it took twelve years to determine that they are two distinct objects sharing the same orbit.

James Watney (b. 1800) · Ty Cobb (b. 1886) · Alexei Kosygin (d. 1980)

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From today's featured list

Sir Robert Walpole

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of the Government of the United Kingdom, and chairs Cabinet meetings. There is no specific date when the office of Prime Minister first appeared, as the role was not created but rather evolved over a period of time. The term was used in the House of Commons in 1805 and it was certainly in parliamentary use by the 1880s, and in 1905 the post of Prime Minister was officially given recognition in the order of precedence. Modern historians generally consider Sir Robert Walpole (pictured), who led the government of Great Britain from 1721 to 1742, as the first Prime Minister. Walpole is also the longest-serving Prime Minister by this definition. However, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was the first Prime Minister and Margaret Thatcher the longest-serving Prime Minister to have been officially referred to as such. Due to the gradual evolution of the post of Prime Minister, the title is applied to early Prime Ministers only retrospectively; this has sometimes given rise to academic dispute. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

A black plastic comb. Toothed devices used for styling, cleaning and managing hair and scalp, combs have been used since prehistoric times, and examples date back to 5,000 years. Combs vary in shape according to function, and can be made out of a number of materials. Most combs are plastic, metal, or wood; ivory combs were also once common.

Photograph: Chris Woodrich

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