Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 November 6

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From today's featured article

Wheeled toy animal

Rotating locomotion in living systems – the use of wheels and propellers by organisms – has long been pondered among biologists and writers of speculative fiction. Rolling and wheeled creatures have appeared in the legends of many cultures. While other human technologies, like wings and lenses, have common analogues in the natural world, and several species are able to roll, structures that propel by rotating relative to a fixed body are represented only by the corkscrew-like bacterial flagella. Macroscopic organisms have apparently never evolved wheels, and this is attributed to two main factors: limitations of evolutionary and developmental biology, and disadvantages of wheels, when compared with limbs, in many natural environments. Wheels, beyond the molecular scale, may not be within the reach of natural evolution, and may be infeasible to grow and maintain with biological processes. Compared with limbs, they are often less energy-efficient, less versatile, and less capable of traversing or avoiding obstacles. These environment-specific disadvantages of wheels also explain why some historical civilizations abandoned them. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Interior of the Duwamish Longhouse

... that several buildings in Seattle (example pictured) deliberately evoke traditional regional Native American architecture?
... that governor Aleimma of Martaban was assassinated after he was lured to Donwun by a proposed marriage to Hnin U Yaing?
... that the Pemberton Memorial Operating Room, built in 1896, featured the first post-operative recovery rooms in Canada?
... that the Malaysian High Court sentenced 22-year-old Frenchwoman Béatrice Saubin to death by hanging for smuggling 534 grams (1.177 lb) of pure grade heroin?
... the Keystone State Wrestling Alliance is the only professional wrestling promotion based in Pittsburgh?
... that two-thirds of the priests in the Diocese of Ruteng signed a 2015 letter of "no confidence" in Bishop Hubertus Leteng, and this year, 69 priests resigned in protest?
... that some carnivorous fungi catch and consume soil nematodes?
... that Albert Sidney Johnston lies in repose atop his grave?

In the news

Mohammad bin Salman

More than 13 million financial documents relating to offshore investment are leaked.
In Sutherland Springs, Texas, United States, a mass shooting at a Baptist church kills 26 people and injures 20 others.
In the midst of reforms by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (pictured), more than 40 senior Saudi princes and ministers are arrested on corruption charges.
In baseball, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks defeat the Yokohama DeNA BayStars to win the Japan Series.
The Tapanuli orangutan is identified as a new species of great ape.
In New York City, a ramming attack kills 8 people and injures at least 11 others.

On this day...

November 6: Constitution Day in the Dominican Republic (1844); Gustavus Adolphus Day in Estonia, Finland and Sweden (1632); Finnish Swedish Heritage Day in Finland

Portrait of George Eliot by François D'Albert Durade

447 – A powerful earthquake destroyed large portions of the Walls of Constantinople, including 57 towers.
1856 – Scenes of Clerical Life, the first work by English author George Eliot (pictured), was submitted for publication.
1935 – The Hawker Hurricane, the aircraft responsible for 60% of the Royal Air Force's air victories in the Battle of Britain, made its first flight.
1977 – The Kelly Barnes Dam in Stephens County, Georgia, U.S., collapsed, and the resulting flood killed 39 people and caused $2.8 million in damages.
1995 – Madagascar's Rova of Antananarivo, which served as the royal palace from the 17th to 19th centuries, was destroyed by fire.

Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March (b. 1391) · James Bowdoin (d. 1790) · Jerry Yang (b. 1968)

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From today's featured list

The star of a Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

Queen Victoria appointed 19 Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, plus an additional 28 honorary Knights Grand Cross, between the order's institution and her death on 22 January 1901. The Royal Victorian Order is an order of knighthood awarded by the sovereign of the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth realms. It is granted personally by the monarch and recognises personal service to the monarchy, the Royal Household, royal family members, and the organisation of important royal events. It was instituted with five grades, Knight Grand Cross, Knight Commander, Commander, Member (fourth class) and Member (fifth class). The two highest conferred the status of knighthood on holders. The first two appointments were to Queen Victoria's sons, Albert, Prince of Wales, and Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, who both received the highest grade on 6 May 1896. Of Queen Victoria's 19 Knights Grand Cross appointments, six were to Princes of the United Kingdom—her own children, grandchildren or other close relatives—and a further seven to those already holding a peerage. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Raising of Lazarus is an oil painting on panel by the Dutch artist Rembrandt from early in his career. It was probably painted in the late 1620s or early 1630s. The work depicts the Raising of Lazarus as told in the Gospel of John, Chapter 11. It is in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Painting: Rembrandt

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