Wikipedia:Main Page history/2024 January 12
From today's featured article
SMS Prinz Adalbert was an armored cruiser built in the early 1900s for the German Kaiserliche Marine, and was named after Prince Adalbert of Prussia, the former commander-in-chief of the Prussian Navy. Her class included a second ship, Friedrich Carl. Prinz Adalbert was built at the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel. Her keel was laid in April 1900 and she was commissioned on 12 January 1904. She served as a gunnery training ship and made several visits to foreign countries. After the outbreak of World War I in July 1914 she served in the Baltic Sea, and after her sister ship was sunk in November 1914, she became the flagship of a cruiser squadron in the Baltic, conducting operations against Russian forces. She was torpedoed twice by British submarines in 1915. On the second occasion she sank quickly with heavy loss of life; from a crew of 675 men, only 3 were rescued. This was the worst German naval disaster in the Baltic during the war. (This article is part of a featured topic: Armored cruisers of Germany.)
Did you know ...
- ... that a radio host got a free apartment in New York City's King Manor (pictured) and lived there for more than three decades?
- ... that Kihwan Sim, a bass-baritone performer at the Oper Frankfurt, learned to play the tuba during his two years of military service?
- ... that the publication of A Field Guide to Otherkin sparked scholarly interest in people who consider themselves animals or mythological creatures?
- ... that George Cross recipient Bill Madden died as result of malnutrition and ill-treatment by his Chinese captors while a prisoner of war?
- ... that Nonô's discography includes songs from Majestic and Punctual?
- ... that Louise Julien may have been an inspiration for the character of Cosette in Les Misérables?
- ... that Nakba denial is a form of historical negationism pertaining to the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight?
- ... that being in the chain-melted state makes some metals behave as a liquid and solid at the same time?
In the news
- A US-led coalition launches a series of airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen, amidst ongoing attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
- President of Ecuador Daniel Noboa (pictured) declares a state of internal armed conflict against multiple criminal groups.
- The Peregrine lunar lander, the first mission on NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, malfunctions after launch on the first flight of a Vulcan Centaur rocket.
- Former German footballer and manager Franz Beckenbauer dies at the age of 78.
On this day
January 12: Zanzibar Revolution Day in Tanzania (1964)
- 1659 – The fort at Allahabad was surrendered to the forces of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
- 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Natal Native Contingent and British troops defeated Zulu forces in the Action at Sihayo's Kraal.
- 1899 – During a storm, the crew of Lynmouth Lifeboat Station transported their 10-ton lifeboat 15 mi (24 km) overland in order to rescue a damaged schooner.
- 1969 – British rock band Led Zeppelin released their first album, Led Zeppelin, in the United States.
- 2007 – Comet McNaught (pictured) reached perihelion, becoming the brightest comet in over 40 years, with an apparent magnitude of −5.5.
- Godscall Paleologue (b. 1694)
- Laura Adams Armer (b. 1874)
- Princess Patricia of Connaught (d. 1974)
- Olga Ladyzhenskaya (d. 2004)
From today's featured list
The first season of late-night talk and news satire television program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver originally aired between April 27, 2014, and November 9, 2014, on HBO in the United States. The season was produced by Avalon Television, and the executive producers were host John Oliver, Tim Carvell, James Taylor, and Jon Thoday, with Joe Perota as director. The season contained 24 episodes, each featuring a main segment on that week's news story and several other smaller segments. Last Week Tonight aired on Sundays at 11 pm, each episode having been taped hours before. The show's fifth episode, which dealt with net neutrality in the United States, was credited with influencing the Federal Communications Commission's decision to strongly regulate net neutrality, beginning a phenomenon dubbed the "John Oliver effect". (Full list...)
Today's featured picture
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The dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera of the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Adult dragonflies are characterized by a pair of large, multifaceted, compound eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, sometimes with coloured patches, and an elongated body. Many dragonflies have brilliant iridescent or metallic colours produced by structural coloration, making them conspicuous in flight. An adult dragonfly's compound eyes have nearly 24,000 ommatidia each. Dragonflies are predatory insects, both in their aquatic nymphal stage (also known as "naiads") and as adults. In some species, the nymphal stage lasts up to five years, and the adult stage may be as long as 10 weeks, but most species have an adult lifespan in the order of five weeks or less, and some survive for only a few days. Loss of wetland habitat threatens dragonfly populations around the world. This male Onychogomphus forcipatus dragonfly was photographed in Kresna Gorge, Bulgaria. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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