Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 April 5

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From today's featured article

Senator Robert F. Kennedy, pictured in 1968

"On the Mindless Menace of Violence" was a speech given by United States Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. He delivered it at the Sheraton-Cleveland Hotel on April 5, 1968, in the wake of riots and chaos following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American civil rights leader. Speechwriters worked early into the morning on a full response to the assassination. After revising the draft, Kennedy spoke for only 10 minutes in front of 2,200 people at the City Club of Cleveland, outlining his views on violence in American society. He faulted both the rioters and the white establishment who, from his perspective, were responsible for the deterioration of social conditions in the United States. He proposed no specific solutions, but admonished the audience to seek common ground and cooperation. Journalist Jack Newfield framed the address as a suitable epitaph for the senator, who was himself assassinated two months later. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Finger clubbing

... that Canadian cardiologist Thomas Forrest Cotton was the first to recognise the correlation between finger clubbing (pictured) and infective endocarditis?
... that eight leaders of the Board of Trustees for the Education of Youth were convicted of crimes in Czechoslovakia after World War II?
... that Laura Barney Harding once declared she was Katharine Hepburn's husband?
... that T.S.R. Subramanian vs Union of India, a public interest writ petition filed by retired top civil servants, is considered a landmark case in Indian legal history?
... that Icelandic chess grandmaster Stefán Kristjánsson was also a successful poker player?
... that it took almost five years to rebuild the South Ferry/Whitehall Street station in New York City, which was completely flooded three years after it opened?
... that archaeologist Su Bingqi proposed a "heretical" multi-region model for prehistoric China which rejected the traditional view that Chinese civilization radiated from the Central Plain?
... that the comic book X-Men Red stars Jean Grey, a character who had been dead for nearly fifteen years?

In the news

Icarus indicated in the bottom right image

Astronomers report the discovery of MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1, nicknamed Icarus (detection pictured), the farthest known star at 9 billion light-years away.
In American college basketball, the NCAA Division I Men's Championship concludes with Villanova defeating Michigan.
China's first space station, Tiangong-1, re-enters the atmosphere and crashes into the South Pacific Ocean.
Clashes along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip leave 17 Palestinian protesters dead and over 1,400 others injured.

On this day...

April 5: Feast Day of Vincent Ferrer; Hansik in South Korea

Akashi Kaikyō Bridge

1081 – The Komnenian dynasty came to full power when Alexios I Komnenos was crowned Byzantine Emperor.
1710 – The Statute of Anne, the first fully fledged law regulating copyright, received royal assent and went into effect five days later in Great Britain.
1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado hit Tupelo, Mississippi, U.S., killing at least 216 people.
1986 – The Libyan secret service bombed a discotheque in West Berlin, killing 3 people and injuring 229 others.
1998 – Japan's Akashi Kaikyō Bridge (pictured), linking Awaji Island and Kobe, opened to traffic, becoming the longest suspension bridge in the world to date with a main span length of 1,991 metres (6,532 ft).

Al-Mu'tadid (d. 902) · Thure de Thulstrup (b. 1848) · Olek (b. 1978)

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Today's featured picture

The character Cepot depicted as a wayang golek, a three-rod puppet associated with the Sundanese people of West Java. Commonly found in local retellings of the Mahabharata or Ramayana, Cepot is depicted as the son of Semar. Together with his father and brothers, Cepot is one of the punokawan, the clown servants of the hero.

Photograph: Chris Woodrich

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