Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 November 8

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From today's featured article

The letter-winged kite (Elanus scriptus) is a small, rare bird of prey that is found only in Australia. Measuring around 35 cm (14 in) in length with a wingspan of 84–100 cm (33–39 in), the adult has predominantly pale grey and white plumage and prominent black rings around its red eyes. It gains its name from a distinctive black "M" or "W" shape on the underwing, seen when in flight. This marking distinguishes it from the otherwise similar black-shouldered kite. The species begins breeding rapidly in response to rodent outbreaks, with pairs nesting in loose colonies of up to 50 birds each. Three to four eggs are laid and incubated for around 30 days, though the eggs may be abandoned if the food source disappears. Chicks are fledged within five weeks of hatching. Roosting in well-foliaged trees during the day, the letter-winged kite hunts for rodents mostly at night, hovering in midair above grasslands and fields. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Tumour cells in peripheral blood smear

... that in a condition known as carcinocythemia, cells from cancerous tumours can be seen in patients' blood smears (example pictured)?
... that Jennifer Morgan, co-chief executive officer at SAP SE, is the first woman CEO of a company on the DAX index?
... that after a secret purchase from Europe, the Special Group became the first Indian troops to be equipped with the AK-47?
... that the death of Tony Renna and major accidents involving four other drivers led the Indy Racing League to lower car speeds and engine horsepower from the 2004 Indianapolis 500 onward?
... that two men who plotted to assassinate King George I were arrested in the Green Man public house in 1722?
... that Peng Yuxing was a "czar" of China's military–industrial complex?
... that a vandal "knew what he was doing" when he disconnected the fuse blocks to WEYY's transmitter, keeping it off the air for two and a half hours?
... that director Kunihiko Ikuhara sought to make the 1999 film Adolescence of Utena "more naughty" than the television series it was adapted from?

In the news

Duane Vermeulen

In rugby union, the World Cup concludes with South Africa defeating England in the final (player of the match Duane Vermeulen pictured).
A series of earthquakes hits Mindanao, Philippines, killing at least 21 people.
A fire on a passenger train near Liaquatpur, Pakistan, kills at least 75 people.
In baseball, the Washington Nationals defeat the Houston Astros to win the World Series.

On this day

November 8

Decorated Venetian glass bowl

1291 – A law was passed that confined most of Venice's glassmaking industry (example pictured) to the island of Murano.
1861 – American Civil War: The USS San Jacinto stopped the British mailship RMS Trent and arrested two Confederate envoys en route to Europe, sparking a major diplomatic crisis between the United Kingdom and the United States.
1939 – Georg Elser unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a time bomb, but killed eight people and injured more than sixty-two others instead.
1974 – British peer Lord Lucan disappeared without a trace, a day after allegedly murdering his children's nanny Sandra Rivett.
2006 – Israeli artillery mistakenly shelled a row of houses in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, killing 19 Palestinians and wounding more than 40 others.

Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy (d. 1605) · Dorothea Bate (b. 1878) · Chika Kuroda (d. 1968)

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From today's featured list

Roald Dahl

The works of British author Roald Dahl have been translated into 59 languages and have sold more than 200 million books worldwide. Roald Dahl was "the most popular writer of children's books since Enid Blyton", according to Philip Howard, the literary editor of The Times. During the Second World War Dahl was a pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF) until he crashed in the Libyan desert; the subsequent injuries left him unfit to fly. The writer C. S. Forester asked him to provide details of his experiences in North Africa which Forester hoped to use in an article in The Saturday Evening Post. Instead of the notes which Forester expected, Dahl sent a finished story for which he was paid $900. The work led to The Gremlins, a serialised story in Cosmopolitan about a mischievous and fictional RAF creature, the gremlin; the work was published as Dahl's first novel in 1943. His first children's novel, James and the Giant Peach, was published in 1961, which was followed, along with others, by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Fantastic Mr Fox (1970), Danny, the Champion of the World (1975), The BFG (1982) and Matilda (1988). (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Montana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, when it was split from the Idaho Territory, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. The capitals of the territory were Bannack (1864–1865), Virginia City (1865–1875) and Helena (1875–1889).

This picture is a historical depiction of the Montana Territory's coat of arms, as illustrated by American engraver Henry Mitchell in State Arms of the Union, published in 1876 by Louis Prang. The shield depicts a landscape of mountains, plains and forests by the Great Falls of the Missouri River. A plow, a pick and a shovel are depicted in the foreground, representing the territory's industries. Below the shield is the Spanish motto Oro y plata, meaning 'Gold and silver'. The same design is featured in the current seal of Montana.

Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Andrew Shiva

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