Wikipedia:Main Page history/2024 February 19
From today's featured article
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The Teloschistaceae are a family of mostly lichen-forming fungi with a cosmopolitan distribution, generally in temperate regions. Most either live on rock or on bark, and many are orange to yellow from anthraquinone which protects them from ultraviolet light, enabling expansion into arid and sunny ecosystems. They have a thallus that is leafy, bushy, or crusty, and partner with photosynthetic Trebouxia algae. A 2013 revision recognised three subfamilies and created or resurrected 31 more genera. Since then, many new genera have been added and DNA studies are giving insights into relationships within this family's more than 800 species and around 120 genera. It remains underexplored in vast regions like South America and China. Several rock-dwelling species are known to damage marble surfaces, and others are used in some traditional medicines. One member, Rusavskia elegans, is used in research as a model organism to investigate resilience against the harsh conditions of outer space. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that Waharoa (pictured), a sculpture by artist Selwyn Muru, was created to metaphorically turn Aotea Square in Auckland into the courtyard of a Māori meeting house?
- ... that chemist Betty Lou Raskin said in 1958 that society was wasting the "brainpower" of women, and blamed the media for making the mink coat the "symbol of female success" and not the lab coat?
- ... that The Drunkard's Progress suggests that a single social drink leads to poverty, crime, and suicide?
- ... that James Light was threatened by the Ku Klux Klan when he staged a play with an interracial couple?
- ... that the performers in the Thai drag show Calypso Cabaret impressed Lady Gaga with their ability to be open about their identities?
- ... that William Winstanley Hull's search for the original manuscript of the 1662 prayer book led to its later discovery?
- ... that it cost the city of Kent, Washington, $7.2 million to complete a trail around Clark Lake Park?
- ... that Indian field hockey player Sukhbir Singh Gill continued to play professionally after being diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2006?
In the news
- At the British Academy Film Awards, Oppenheimer wins Best Film and six other awards, including Best Director for Christopher Nolan (pictured).
- Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies in a penal colony near Kharp, at the age of 47.
- In American football, the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers to win the Super Bowl.
- In association football, the Africa Cup of Nations concludes with Ivory Coast defeating Nigeria in the final.
- Alexander Stubb is elected President of Finland.
On this day
February 19: Family Day in Canada (2024)
- 1811 – Peninsular War: Outnumbered French forces under Édouard Mortier routed and nearly destroyed Spanish troops at the Battle of the Gebora near Badajoz, Spain.
- 1903 – A blockade against Venezuela (depicted), caused by President Cipriano Castro's refusal to pay foreign debts, was lifted.
- 1942 – World War II: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forcible relocation of over 112,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps.
- 1948 – The Southeast Asian Youth Conference, which is believed to have inspired armed communist rebellions in different Asian countries, opened in Calcutta, India.
- Nicolaus Copernicus (b. 1473)
- Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama (b. 1938)
- Jennifer Doudna (b. 1964)
- Harper Lee (d. 2016)
From today's featured list
Japanese special-effects director and filmmaker Eiji Tsuburaya worked on roughly 250 films during his five-decade career. Having pioneered and popularized the special-effects sector of the Japanese film industry, he is popularly known as the "Father of Tokusatsu". Tsuburaya started his career in the Japanese film industry as a cinematographer for several successful dramas and jidaigeki (Japanese historical drama) films in the early 1920s. Following the completion of photography on this film, he worked as the cinematographer and had his debut as the special-effects director for Princess Kaguya (1935), one of Japan's first major productions to feature special effects. In 1954, Tsuburaya directed the special effects for Hiroshi Inagaki's jidaigeki epic Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto and the Ishirō Honda kaiju film Godzilla. For the latter film, he achieved his first Japan Technical Award for Special Skill and attained international recognition. (Full list...)
Today's featured picture
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Presidents' Day, officially known as Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday in February. It is often celebrated to honor all those who served as presidents of the United States and, since 1879, has been the federal holiday honoring Founding Father George Washington, who led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolutionary War, presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and was the first United States president. The portrait of Washington shown here was one of 130 copies that the American painter Gilbert Stuart made of his unfinished Athenaeum Portrait, which is Stuart's most notable work and the basis for the engraving of Washington on the United States one-dollar bill. This copy is in the collection of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Painting credit: Gilbert Stuart
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