Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 January 20

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Today's featured article
Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. The road movie plot follows a family's trip in their Volkswagen T2 Microbus to a children's beauty pageant. Little Miss Sunshine was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer Michael Arndt. It stars Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin, and was produced by Big Beach Films on a budget of US$8 million. Filming began on June 6, 2005 and took place over 30 days in Arizona and Southern California. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2006, and its distribution rights were bought by Fox Searchlight Pictures for one of the biggest deals made in the history of the festival. Little Miss Sunshine received critical acclaim, and had an international box office gross of $100.5 million. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won two: Best Original Screenplay for Michael Arndt and Best Supporting Actor for Alan Arkin. It also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature, and received multiple other accolades. (more...) Recently featured: Sacrifice – Unification of Germany – Wintjiya Napaltjarri Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest articles: ... that the Zouaves of Death (pictured), a Polish military unit of the January Uprising, drew their traditions from the French Zouaves of the Crimean War? ... that Vittorio Erspamer (1909–1999) discovered the chemical compound octopamine, isolating it from the salivary glands of an octopus? ... that the Grambling State Tigers college football team has made the most appearances in and won the most SWAC Championship Games since the inaugural 1999 contest? ... that thanks to the song "Sopa de Caracol", the musical ensemble Banda Blanca became the best-known Honduran band? ... that the Google Science Fair is an online science competition sponsored by Google, Lego, CERN, and Scientific American? ... that Karl Marx wrote his Das Kapital while living in the building now occupied by Soho restaurant Quo Vadis? ... that antitumor agents isolated from bohemic acid are named after the characters of the opera La bohème? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Sargent Shriver 1962 More than 50 people are killed in widespread flooding across southern Africa. American politician Sargent Shriver (pictured), the first director of the Peace Corps, dies at the age of 95. The 2011 Dakar Rally concludes in Buenos Aires. At least 100 people are killed and another 90 injured in a stampede at Sabarimala in Kerala, India. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali leaves Tunisia following nationwide protests and Fouad Mebazaa becomes the acting president. More than 700 people are killed by flooding and mudslides in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. South Korea starts to cull approximately 12 percent of all domestic pigs in the country after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
January 20 Tu Bishvat (Judaism, 2011) 1156 – According to legend, freeholder Lalli slew Bishop Henry of Finland with an axe on the ice of the lake Köyliönjärvi in Köyliö, Finland. 1843 – Honório Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná (pictured) became the de facto first prime minister of the Empire of Brazil. 1946 – Favouring stronger executive power than the draft constitution for the French Fourth Republic provided, Charles de Gaulle resigned as President of the Provisional Government. 1969 – Bengali student activist Amanullah Asaduzzaman was shot and killed by East Pakistani police, one of the casus belli that led to the Bangladesh Liberation War. 2009 – In Washington, D.C., over 1 million people attended the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African American President of the United States. More anniversaries: January 19 – January 20 – January 21 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now January 20 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A sample of malachite, a green copper carbonate mineral that crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system. It is typically associated with copper deposits around limestone, and is often found together with azurite. Malachite was used as a mineral pigment in green paints from antiquity until about 1800, and is still used today for decorative purposes and to make jewelry.

Photo: JJ Harrison

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