Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 June 16

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From today's featured article

Waterspout near Key West ahead
of the storm's arrival in Florida

The 1944 Cuba–Florida hurricane was a large Category 4 tropical cyclone that caused widespread damage across the western Caribbean Sea and the Southeastern United States. It inflicted over US$100 million in damage and was responsible for at least 318 deaths. The unprecedented availability of meteorological data during the hurricane marked a turning point in the United States Weather Bureau's ability to forecast tropical cyclones. The system became a tropical storm on October 12 and intensified into a hurricane the next day. On October 18, it made landfall on western Cuba at peak strength with reported winds of 145 mph (230 km/h). At least 300 people were killed in Cuba, which suffered extensive damage from winds and storm surge, especially in the Havana area. Numerous ships sank in Havana Harbor. On October 19 the storm made a final landfall near Sarasota, Florida, as a Category 2 hurricane. Eighteen people were killed in Florida, half of those from the loss of a ship in Tampa Bay. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Walkiria Terradura

... that Walkiria Terradura (pictured) was a member of the Italian resistance movement during World War II and a specialist in blowing up bridges?
... that the former seal of Zion, Illinois, was ruled unconstitutional because it contained the phrase "God reigns"?
... that Chelsea F.C.'s loss in the 1988 Football League Second Division play-off Final triggered football hooliganism that injured 45 people?
... that Olga Yurievskaya, a daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Princess Catherine Dolgorukova, was legitimated by her parents' morganatic marriage?
... that in a promotional stunt, staff at Cincinnati-area radio station WIZF demanded a 40-percent raise, which turned out to refer to a 40-foot (12 m) increase in the height of the station's antenna?
... that while lente insulin is no longer approved for use in humans in the United States, it is still used commonly in cats and dogs with diabetes?
... that Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman developed the plot of their 1936 play Stage Door while cycling side by side?
... that a Pony on YouTube creates make-up tutorials for millions of subscribers?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic

Neil Gorsuch

In a majority opinion by Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (pictured), the U.S. Supreme Court rules that gay and transgender people are protected from employment discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza dies in office at the age of 55.
Russian president Vladimir Putin declares a state of emergency after a diesel spill near Norilsk.

On this day

June 16

James Joyce

632 – The final king of the Sasanian Empire of Iran, Yazdegerd III, ascended the throne at the age of eight.
1755 – After a two-week siege, the French commander of Fort Beauséjour in present-day New Brunswick, Canada, surrendered to British forces, marking the end of Father Le Loutre's War.
1904 – Irish author James Joyce (pictured) began his relationship with Nora Barnacle, and subsequently used the date to set the actions for his 1922 novel Ulysses.
1911 – The technology company IBM was founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York.
2010 – The Tobacco Control Act of Bhutan came into force, banning the sale and production of tobacco in the country.

Yang Jisheng (b. 1516)
Bazil Assan (d. 1918)
Sydney Chapman (d. 1970)

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Today's featured picture

The Bever–Scuol-Tarasp railway is a Swiss metre-gauge line, operated by the Rhaetian Railway and connecting the Lower Engadine with the Albula Railway. The 49.4 km (30.7 mi) single track line has a total of 17 tunnels and 55 major bridges, and was opened in 1913. The route is electrified, having been used as a test track for single-phase alternating current from the date of its construction.

This picture shows a push–pull train on the Bever–Scuol-Tarasp railway, with a Neva Retica BDt control car leading and a Rhaetian Railway Ge 4/4 pushing, photographed at the La Punt-Chamues-ch railway station in the Engadin valley. There is a 2.0-percent gradient through the station.

Photograph credit: David Gubler

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