Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 November 18

From today's featured article

The Rhode Island Tercentenary half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent piece, struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936. The coin was designed by John Howard Benson and Arthur Graham Carey. Its obverse (pictured) depicts Roger Williams, founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, meeting a Native American. It was intended to honor the 300th anniversary of Providence, Rhode Island, although it bears no mention of the city. A total of 50,000 coins were struck at the three mints then in operation. On March 5, 1936, Rhode Island banks holding the coins announced that the entire issue had sold out within six hours, but ample supplies proved to be available at higher prices from insiders. Coin collectors were incensed, and the abuses led Congress to end the authorization for outstanding commemorative coin issues in 1939. Today the half dollars list for hundreds of dollars, depending on condition. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Coat of arms of the Prince of Wales

... that the coat of arms of the Prince of Wales (pictured) features the Red Dragon, but with a white label of difference?
... that Leo Holzer led a resistance group inside the Theresienstadt concentration camp?
... that oppositionist delegates to the Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971 were among the first to be arrested when Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines?
... that an obscenity conviction for screening Kenneth Anger's Fireworks was reversed by the Supreme Court of California?
... that Camille Saint-Saëns composed the Messe de Requiem, in memory of his patron, in just eight days, and conducted the first performance in 1878 at Saint-Sulpice in Paris?
... that Hesham Ashmawy was one of Egypt's most-wanted militants prior to his arrest in Libya last month?
... that the United Kingdom conducted 24 nuclear weapons tests in the United States between 1962 and 1991, and has conducted subcritical tests not involving explosions since then?
... that Tommy Lockhart booked a roller-skating grizzly bear to perform as the on-ice intermission entertainment at a Hershey Bears game?

ARA San Juan in March 2007

The wreckage of Argentinian submarine San Juan (pictured), which disappeared in November 2017, is found in the South Atlantic.
David Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sells for more than US$90 million, the highest price for a work by a living artist at auction.
The International Committee for Weights and Measures confirms new definitions for the units kilogram, ampere, kelvin and mole.
Amidst a constitutional crisis, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka suspends the attempt by President Maithripala Sirisena to dissolve parliament.

Congressman Leo Ryan

1809 – Napoleonic Wars: In the Bay of Bengal, a French frigate squadron captured three East Indiamen mainly carrying recruits for the Indian Army.
1865 – American author Mark Twain's story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", his first great success as a writer, was published.
1956 – In the Polish embassy in Moscow, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said "We will bury you" while addressing Western envoys, prompting them to leave the room.
1978 – Jim Jones led more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple to mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, hours after some of its members assassinated U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan (pictured).
1991 – The current flag of Uzbekistan was adopted, making the country the first newly independent republic in Central Asia to choose a new flag.

Thomas of Bayeux (d. 1100) · Chloë Sevigny (b. 1974) · Conn Smythe (d. 1980)

More anniversaries:

The William Crooks is a 4-4-0 steam locomotive that was the first locomotive to operate in the U.S. state of Minnesota, beginning in 1861. It was named after William Crooks, the chief mechanical engineer for the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, who earlier served as a colonel in the 6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Crooks laid out the initial ten-mile track between Minneapolis and St. Paul on which the locomotive operated. It was retired from regular service in 1897, but operated special services for several further decades. It is now in the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth.

Photograph: National Photo Company, Restoration: Adam Cuerden

Recently featured:

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.