Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 November 8b

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From today's featured article

The king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) is a species of highly venomous snake of the family Elapidae, native to northern, western, and Central Australia. Despite its common name, it is a member of the genus Pseudechis (black snakes) and only distantly related to true brown snakes. First described by the English zoologist John Edward Gray in 1842, it is a robust snake up to 3.3 m (11 ft) long. It is variable in appearance, with individuals from northern Australia having tan upperparts, while those from southern Australia are dark brown to blackish. The dorsal scales are two-toned, sometimes giving the snake a patterned appearance. Its underside is cream or white, often with orange splotches. The snake is considered to be a least-concern species. Its venomous bites often produce extensive pain and swelling, and deaths have been recorded, most recently in 1969. Its victims are treated with black-snake (not brown-snake) antivenom. (Full article...)

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Alma John

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In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Portal

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, (both pictured) win the United States presidential election.
Hurricane Eta makes landfall in Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane, killing more than 200 people.
In Afghanistan, a shooting at Kabul University's campus leaves 35 people dead and 50 others injured.
Typhoon Goni makes landfall in the Philippines as a super typhoon, killing at least 26 people.

On this day

November 8

Engraving of the Stockholm Bloodbath

1520 – Following a successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces under Christian II, scores of Swedish leaders in Stockholm were imprisoned and later executed (depicted) despite Christian's promise of general amnesty.
1644 – The Shunzhi Emperor, the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, was enthroned in Beijing after the collapse of the Ming dynasty as the first Qing emperor to rule over China.
1940 – The Italian invasion of Greece failed as outnumbered Greek units repulsed the Italians at the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas.
1987 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb exploded during a Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing 12 people and injuring 63 others.

Robert Catesby (d. 1605)
Thomas Bewick (d. 1828)
Tom Anderson (b. 1970)

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Today's featured picture

St Cyprian's Church is an Anglican parish church in the Marylebone district of London, dedicated to Saint Cyprian, a third-century martyr and bishop of Carthage. The church was designed by Sir Ninian Comper in a Perpendicular Gothic style, and was constructed between 1901 and 1903. The sanctuary, seen here, has a delicate carved and painted rood screen and parclose screens around an "English altar", i.e. an altar surrounded on three sides by hangings and a painted dossal, riddelposts with angels, and a painted and gilded reredos. The altar is set beneath a gilded tester placed high up in the roof.

Photograph credit: David Iliff

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