Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 April 14

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From today's featured article

Two snakes wound around a staff are often a symbol of medicine.

Dreamsnake is a 1978 science fiction novel by American writer Vonda N. McIntyre. It is an expansion of her Nebula Award–winning 1973 novelette "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand". The main character, Snake, is a healer who uses genetically modified serpents to cure sickness in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust on Earth. The titular "dreamsnake" is an alien serpent whose venom gives dying people pleasant dreams. The novel follows Snake as she seeks to replace her dead dreamsnake. The book is an example of second-wave feminism in science fiction. McIntyre subverted gendered narratives, including by placing a woman at the center of a heroic quest. Dreamsnake also explored social structures and sexuality from a feminist perspective, and examined themes of healing and cross-cultural interaction. The novel won the 1978 Nebula Award, the 1979 Hugo Award, and the 1979 Locus Poll Award. Snake's strength and self-sufficiency were noted by commentators, while McIntyre's writing and the book's themes also received praise. (Full article...)

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In the news

Guillermo Lasso

Guillermo Lasso (pictured) is elected President of Ecuador.
At the British Academy Film Awards, Nomadland wins four awards, including Best Film.
In golf, Hideki Matsuyama wins the Masters Tournament.
In horse racing, Minella Times wins the Grand National, with Rachael Blackmore becoming the first female jockey to win in the race's 182-year history.
The volcano La Soufrière erupts in Saint Vincent, forcing the evacuation of around 20,000 people.

On this day

April 14: Tamil New Year and other New Year festivals in South and Southeast Asia (2021); Day of the Georgian Language (1978); N'Ko Alphabet Day in West Africa (1949); Yom HaZikaron in Israel (2021)

Illustration of celestial phenomena over Nuremberg

1561 – A mass sighting of celestial phenomena (depicted) occurred in Nuremberg, Germany, where observers described an "aerial battle" between odd-shaped objects.
1865 – Actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth fatally shot U.S. president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
1909 – Following a reactionary military revolt against the Committee of Union and Progress, a mob began a massacre of Armenian Christians in the Adana Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.
1967 – After leading a military coup three months earlier, Gnassingbé Eyadéma installed himself as President of Togo, a post that he held until 2005.
2014 – Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a government secondary school in the town of Chibok, Nigeria.

Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton (b. 1852)
Yakov Dzhugashvili (d. 1943)
Lita (b. 1975)

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Today's featured picture

Frederick Fleet (1887–1965) was a British sailor, crewman and survivor of the sinking of the Titanic after the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40 pm on 14 April 1912. As one of two lookouts on duty aboard the Titanic at the time of the collision, it was Fleet who first sighted the iceberg, ringing the bridge to proclaim: "Iceberg, right ahead!"

Photograph credit: unknown

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