Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 September 21

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From today's featured article

Future Science Fiction and Science Fiction Stories were two American magazines published under various names between 1939 and 1943 and again from 1950 to 1960. Both publications were edited by Charles Hornig for the first few issues; Robert W. Lowndes took over in late 1941, and remained editor until the end. The initial launch of the magazines came as part of a boom in science fiction pulp magazine publishing at the end of the 1930s, but in 1943 wartime paper shortages ended their run. In the 1950s, with the market improving again, both magazines were relaunched. Lowndes set a friendly and engaging tone in the magazines, with letter columns and reader departments that interested fans. He was successful in obtaining good stories partly because he had good relationships with several well-known and emerging writers. Among the stories he published were "The Liberation of Earth" by William Tenn and "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth" by Arthur C. Clarke. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Long-stalk spiderhead

... that flowers of the long-stalk spiderhead (pictured) produce a sweet smell late in the afternoon?
... that Kalākaua restored the hula, which had previously been banned from being publicly performed, and sponsored other Native Hawaiian traditions in the first Hawaiian Renaissance?
... that brownies, helpful household spirits from British folklore, are said to leave a house forever if offered a gift of clothing?
... that Brian Kershisnik's experiences of the births of his children inspired his painting Nativity?
... that Leonard Bernstein composed Opening Prayer on a commission from Carnegie Hall for its reopening in 1986?
... that during the Wars of the Roses, the son of William Bonville was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, and Bonville himself was executed a few months later after the Second Battle of St Albans?
... that FRoSTA, the largest frozen food company in Germany, suffered huge losses when it adopted sustainable sourcing and eliminated food additives from its products?
... that the TARDIS's Fast Return Switch featured in the Doctor Who serial The Edge of Destruction appeared to have a label written in felt-tip pen?

In the news

Eliud Kipchoge

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge (pictured) runs the Berlin Marathon in world record time.
NASA's ICESat-2 satellite is launched, the last mission to use the Delta II rocket.
Typhoon Mangkhut impacts the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, resulting in more than 70 fatalities.
Hurricane Florence impacts the East Coast of the United States, causing the deaths of at least 30 people.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who co-discovered pulsars but was omitted from the related Nobel Prize, receives the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

On this day

September 21: International Day of Peace

The Angel Moroni delivers the golden plates to Joseph Smith Jr.

1823 – According to Joseph Smith Jr., he was first visited by the Angel Moroni (pictured), who would guide him to the golden plates that became the basis of the Book of Mormon.
1938 – The Great New England Hurricane made landfall on Long Island, New York, killing an estimated 682 people and injuring 1,754 others.
1943 – Second World War: The German Army began the Massacre of the Acqui Division on the Greek island of Cephalonia, executing 5,155 Italian soldiers by 26 September.
1965 – Portugal accepted a Rhodesian mission in Lisbon despite objections by Britain, which had required its colony to implement democratic majority rule as a condition of independence.
2013 – Unidentified gunmen began a three-day attack on the upmarket Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, resulting in the deaths of 67 people with at least another 175 wounded.

Arthur Schopenhauer (d. 1860) · Helen Foster Snow (b. 1907) · Kareena Kapoor (b. 1980)

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From today's featured list

Cecil B. DeMille

The Cecil B. DeMille Award is an honorary Golden Globe Award bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment". The HFPA board of directors selects the honorees from a variety of actors, directors, writers and producers who have made a significant mark in the film industry. It was first presented at the 9th Golden Globe Awards ceremony in February 1952 and is named in honor of its first recipient, director Cecil B. DeMille (pictured). The award has been presented annually since 1952, with exceptions being 1976 and 2008, the latter due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike's cancellation of that year's ceremony. The youngest honoree was actress Judy Garland, at age 39 in 1962. Garland was also the first female honoree. The oldest honoree was producer Samuel Goldwyn, at age 93 in 1973. As of 2018, 64 honorees have received the Cecil B. DeMille Award, 14 women and 50 men. (Full list...)

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Caroline Schermerhorn Astor (September 21, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century. Born into a wealthy family from New York City's Dutch aristocracy, she married William Backhouse Astor Jr. in 1853. The Astor family had made a fortune through fur trading and real estate. Mrs. Astor became a leading member of the exclusive New York aristocratic society of inherited wealth; by the end of the 19th century she was known as the Mrs. Astor. Adjacent Astor family homes that she had occupied at different times on Fifth Avenue became the first Waldorf–Astoria hotel, and later the site of the Empire State Building.

Painting: Carolus-Duran, 1890; Metropolitan Museum of Art

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