Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 November 4

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From today's featured article

The Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus) is a bird in the sparrow family with a rich chestnut crown and nape, and a black patch on pure white cheeks on both sexes. It is widespread in the towns and cities of eastern Asia, but in Europe it is a bird of the lightly wooded open countryside. It is not closely related to the American tree sparrow. Its untidy nest is built within a natural cavity, a hole in a building, or the large nest of a Eurasian magpie or white stork. It feeds mainly on seeds, but invertebrates are also consumed, particularly during the breeding season. Parasites, diseases and birds of prey take their toll, and the typical life span is about two years. There have been large declines in western European populations, in part due to increased use of herbicides and a decline in winter stubble fields. The species has long been depicted in Chinese and Japanese art, and has appeared on the postage stamps of Antigua and Barbuda, Belarus, Belgium, Cambodia, the Central African Republic, China, Estonia, The Gambia and Taiwan. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Mount Judd

... that Mount Judd (pictured) is also known as the "Nuneaton Nipple"?
... that Jobst Oetzmann directed the film The Loneliness of the Crocodiles, presented at international film festivals, and the award-winning 484th episode of the police crime drama Tatort?
... that Nanchang Qingyunpu Airport, once China's largest airport, was destroyed during the Second Sino-Japanese War?
... that in 1931, William Robins carried a colour of Barrell's Regiment in a ceremony to unite it with that of Clan Stewart of Appin, their adversaries at the 1746 Battle of Culloden?
... that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Lou Reed considered the guitar-playing on Neil Young's "Danger Bird" to be the best he had ever heard?
... that because the court described him as a "simpleton", Stefan Baretzki's admission that he knew the Holocaust was a crime was used to convict other defendants at the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials?
... that during its time 200 million years ago, Ledumahadi's estimated weight of 12 tonnes (26,000 lb) made it the largest animal to have lived on Earth?
... that Mexican drug lord Martín Arzola Ortega complained about the increase in price of potato chips in prison?

In the news

Statue of Unity

Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, is acquitted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, sparking widespread protests by Islamists.
India unveils the Statue of Unity (pictured), the tallest statue in the world at 182 m (597 ft), depicting its first deputy prime minister, Vallabhbhai Patel.
Typhoon Yutu, also known as Typhoon Rosita, makes a second landfall in the Philippines, killing 6 people and leaving at least 23 others missing.
Lion Air Flight 610 crashes off the coast of Java, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.

On this day

November 4: Flag Day in Panama

City & South London Railway locomotive

1780 – In the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, Túpac Amaru II led an uprising of Aymara, Quechua, and mestizo peasants as a protest against the Bourbon reforms.
1890 – London's City and South London Railway (locomotive pictured), the first deep-level underground railway in the world, officially opened, running a distance of 3.2 mi (5.1 km) between the City of London and Stockwell.
1960 – At the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Tanzania, Jane Goodall observed a chimpanzee using a grass stalk to extract termites from a termite hill, the first recorded case of tool use by animals.
2010 – In the first aviation occurrence for an Airbus A380, Qantas Flight 32 suffered an uncontained engine failure and safely made an emergency landing at Singapore Changi Airport with no casualties.

Hu Zongxian (b. 1512) · La Belle Otero (b. 1868) · Shoghi Effendi (d. 1957)

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Today's featured picture

Religion saved by Spain is an oil on canvas painting produced between 1572 and 1575 by the Venetian school artist Titian, commemorating the Battle of Lepanto. It depicts an allegory, portraying Spain as a woman in a dramatic landscape, wielding a shield and spear. The Turkish threat is shown by a man wearing a turban in a chariot with two horses on the sea. Christianity is depicted as a woman falling on her knees, threatened not only by the Turks but also by Protestantism, represented by snakes. The painting now hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Painting: Titian

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