Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 July 14

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

The Somerset Levels are about 160,000 acres (650 km²) of coastal plains and wetlands in Somerset, South West England, running south from the Mendip Hills to the Blackdown Hills. About 70 per cent of the land is used as grassland and the rest is arable. Willow and teazel are grown commercially, and peat is extracted. Neolithic people exploited the resources of the reed swamps and started to construct wooden trackways, including the world's oldest known timber trackway, the Post Track, dating from the 3800s BC. Several settlements and hill forts were built on slightly raised land, including at Brent Knoll and Glastonbury. The Shapwick Hoard, 9,238 silver Roman coins discovered at the village of Shapwick, is the second largest Roman coin collection ever found in Britain. In 1685 the Battle of Sedgemoor ended the Monmouth Rebellion. The area has been extensively studied for its biodiversity and history, and has a growing tourism industry. (Full article...)

Part of the Physical geography of Somerset series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

Recently featured:

Did you know...

Conesville Power Plant

... that two protestors from Greenpeace climbed up one of Conesville Power Plant's smokestacks (pictured) to protest against acid rain?
... that "Go England" was written as a cover of The Jam's "Going Underground" to support England at the 2002 FIFA World Cup?
... that the leech Theromyzon tessulatum is a parasite of waterfowl, invading their mouths, noses, and respiratory passages?
... that Yan Jizhou's 1957 film Early Morning Chill was repeatedly criticized in China for portraying traitors to the Communist revolution in a sympathetic light?
... that public art at South Tacoma station includes a granite railroad spike and a pair of 18-foot (5.5 m) arches shaped like train wheels?
... that the title of "Da der Herr Christ zu Tische saß", a long Passion hymn by Nikolaus Herman published in 1560, alludes to the Last Supper?
... that under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Ardeshir Tarapore, the Poona Horse regiment, 17th Battalion, destroyed sixty Pakistani tanks during the Battle of Chawinda?
... that John Gorrie has no memory of directing the third episode of the Doctor Who serial The Reign of Terror, despite official documentation stating he did?

In the news

Tham Luang Nang Non cave entrance

In Pakistan, at least 136 people are killed and more than 335 others are injured in multiple bombings in Mastung and Bannu.
Scientists announce the discovery of stone tools dating to 2.1 million years ago in Shangchen, China, the oldest evidence of hominins outside Africa.
In Germany, the National Socialist Underground trial ends after more than five years with the sentencing of the main defendant, Beate Zschäpe, to life in prison.
Twelve boys and a man trapped in Thailand's Tham Luang Nang Non cave (entrance pictured) are rescued.

On this day

July 14: Bastille Day in France (1789); Festino of Saint Rosalia begins in Palermo, Italy

Storming of the Bastille by Jean-Pierre Houël

1789 – French Revolution: Parisians stormed the Bastille (pictured), freeing its inmates and taking the prison's large quantities of arms and ammunition.
1791 – The Priestley Riots began, in which Joseph Priestley and other religious Dissenters were driven out of Birmingham, England.
1958 – Faisal II, the last king of Iraq, was overthrown by a military coup d'état led by Abd al-Karim Qasim.
2003 – In an effort to discredit U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who had written an op-ed critical of the invasion of Iraq, his wife Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative was leaked to and published by Washington Post columnist Robert Novak.
2015 – The New Horizons probe became the first spacecraft to explore Pluto.

James O'Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley (d. 1774) · Kate M. Gordon (b. 1861) · Alphonse Mucha (d. 1939)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond Neptune. Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Pluto was originally considered to be the ninth planet from the Sun. Following the discovery of several objects of similar size in the Kuiper belt, its status as a planet was questioned, and in 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) gave a definition of the term "planet" that excluded Pluto. The largest and second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System, Pluto is primarily made of ice and rock. It is relatively small, with a moderately eccentric and inclined orbit.

This photograph of Pluto is a composite of four near-true color images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015. The most prominent feature in the image, the bright, youthful, nitrogen ice plains of Sputnik Planitia, the left lobe of heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio, is at right center. This contrasts with the darker, more cratered terrain of Cthulhu Macula at lower left.

Photograph: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.