Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 October 6

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From today's featured article

Banksia petiolaris is a species of flowering plant of the family Proteaceae native to Western Australia, where it is found in sandy soils in the south coastal regions from Munglinup east to Israelite Bay. It was first described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1864. B. petiolaris grows as a prostrate shrub, with horizontal stems and thick, leathery upright leaves. The leaves can be viable for up to 13 years—the longest-lived of any flowering plant recorded. Yellow cylindrical flower spikes (pictured), up to 16 cm (6 ¹⁄₄ in) high, appear in spring. As the spikes age, they turn grey and develop up to 20 woody seed pods each, known as follicles. Insects such as bees, wasps and ants pollinate the flowers. B. petiolaris regenerates by seed after bushfire. The species adapts readily to cultivation, growing in well-drained sandy soils in sunny locations. It is suitable for rockeries and as a groundcover. (Full article...)

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Morrison Heady

... that deafblind author Morrison Heady (pictured) invented assistive devices throughout his life, including a self-opening gate, a steam-powered embossing press, and a "talking glove"?
... that the commercial success of Juluka's "Scatterlings of Africa" enabled band co-founder Johnny Clegg to leave his academic position as an anthropologist and become a full-time musician?
... that the Santa Fe Freight Building in Fort Worth, Texas, was redeveloped as a market space with restaurants in 2002 and then as a university satellite campus in 2007?
... that the Global Certification Commission has certified the eradication of wild poliovirus in five of the six WHO regions, with the exception of the Eastern Mediterranean Region?
... that political consultant Andy Spahn said that Cuba is "nothing like" how it has been portrayed by U.S. politicians?
... that "Einer ist unser Leben" ("One is our Life"), a hymn with text written by Lothar Zenetti in 1973, was recommended for a regional ecumenical service in 2020?
... that a 1998 inquest found that the killing of Alton Manning was unlawful, and a judicial review found that the decision to not bring charges was flawed, but no charges have yet been filed?
... that when the 2,500-seat Bridges Auditorium was completed in Claremont, California, in 1931, its capacity was equal to the population of the entire city?

In the news

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

Shura (left) and Kosgei (right)

Shura Kitata and Brigid Kosgei (both pictured) win the London Marathon men's and women's races respectively.
New Caledonia votes to remain a French overseas territory.
Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah becomes Emir of Kuwait after the death of his half-brother, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
In ice hockey, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Dallas Stars to win the Stanley Cup.

On this day

October 6: German-American Day in the United States

Carlos Álvarez

69 BC – Third Mithridatic War: Roman Republican forces captured the Armenian capital city of Tigranocerta.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: British forces under Sir Henry Clinton captured Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery, and dismantled the Hudson River Chain.
1934 – Catalonia's autonomous government declared a general strike, an armed insurgency, and the establishment of the Catalan State in reaction to the inclusion of conservatives in the Spanish republican regime.
2000 – Denouncing corruption in Argentine president Fernando de la Rúa's administration and the Senate, Vice President Carlos Álvarez (pictured) resigned.
2010 – The first version of the Instagram mobile application was released for iOS devices.

Nicetas the Patrician (d. 836)
Meghnad Saha (b. 1893)
Hattie Jacques (d. 1980)

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Today's featured picture

An aerospike engine is a type of rocket engine that maintains its aerodynamic efficiency across a wide range of altitudes. A rocket engine directs a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid in one direction, generating thrust in the opposite direction. An aerospike engine differs from a conventional one in that, instead of firing the gases out of a small hole in the middle of a bell-shaped nozzle extension, it fires them along the outside edge of a wedge-shaped protrusion, the "spike". This 2001 photograph shows a Rocketdyne XRS-2200 linear aerospike engine for the Lockheed Martin X-33 program being tested at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi.

Photograph credit: NASA; retouched by Papa Lima Whiskey

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