Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 October 11

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From today's featured article

Douglas Albert Munro (October 11, 1919 – September 27, 1942) served in the United States Coast Guard in World War II, and was the Coast Guard's only recipient during the war of the Medal of Honor. He was awarded the medal posthumously after leading the evacuation of American marines whose positions had been overrun during the Second Battle of the Matanikau. He was shot while piloting a Higgins boat to shield a landing craft filled with marines from Japanese fire. Numerous warships, buildings, and monuments have been dedicated to him, and he is the only non-marine to be enshrined on the Wall of Heroes of the National Museum of the Marine Corps. He is annually memorialized in ceremonies held in his hometown of Cle Elum, Washington, and at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. Munro was the nephew of Francis Fairey, a commanding officer of the Irish Fusiliers of Canada and a member of the Canadian House of Commons. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

An example of writing lines assigned as punishment

... that writing lines (example pictured), as cartoon character Bart Simpson does on a chalkboard, has survived even as other forms of school discipline have fallen out of favour?
... that it took more than 5,000 Philippine soldiers with land, air, and sea support, as well as millions of pesos, to end the uprising of Hadji Kamlon?
... that the character of Felicity Smoak, from The CW's Arrowverse franchise, first appeared in the DC Comics series The Fury of Firestorm in 1984?
... that the surgeon Ian Scott Smillie, president of the International Society of the Knee, wrote a book about deer stalking in Scotland?
... that courts and legal scholars in some countries have expressed support for the idea that even a properly ratified constitutional amendment can be unconstitutional?
... that although Yū Sasahara dreamed of becoming a singer as a child, her father persuaded her to pursue a career in voice acting instead?
... that KLLT in Grants, New Mexico, went off the air because the United States Forest Service refused to let the station build a tower on Mount Taylor to improve its coverage?
... that after reforming the army of the Sasanian Empire, the officer Babak is said to have insisted that King Khosrow I wear his armor and participate in the military parade like all the other warriors?

In the news

John Goodenough

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to John B. Goodenough (pictured), M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium-ion batteries.
Turkey begins a military offensive into Rojava, Syria, after U.S. troops withdraw from the region.
Protests in Ecuador calling for the resignation of President Lenín Moreno cause the government to relocate from Quito to Guayaquil.
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to Jim Peebles, Michel Mayor, and Didier Queloz.
Scientists announce the discovery of twenty new moons of Saturn, making it the planet with the most known moons in the Solar System.

On this day

October 11: Feast day of James the Deacon (Church of England); National Coming Out Day (international)

Bashir Shihab II

1531 – Swiss Reformation leader Huldrych Zwingli was killed in battle when Zürich forces were attacked by Catholic cantons in response to a food blockade being applied by his alliance.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: A British fleet defeated American ships at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, but gave American forces enough time to prepare their defenses for the Saratoga campaign.
1840 – Bashir Shihab II (portrait pictured) surrendered to the Ottoman Empire and was removed as Emir of Mount Lebanon after an imperial decree by Sultan Abdülmecid I.
1937 – Edward, Duke of Windsor, and Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, arrived at Friedrichstraße station in Berlin to begin their tour of Germany.
1987 – An estimated 750,000 people attended the "Great March" in Washington, D.C., to demand greater civil rights for the LGBT community.

Maria James (b. 1793) · Amitabh Bachchan (b. 1942) · Werner von Trapp (d. 2007)

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From today's featured list

Pope John XXIII issued eight papal encyclicals during his five-year reign as pope of the Catholic Church from 1958 to 1963. An encyclical is a letter issued by the pope that is usually addressed to Catholic bishops or laity in a particular area or of the whole world. Encyclicals may condemn errors, point out threats to faith and morals, exhort faithful practices or provide remedies for present and future dangers to the church. Pope John XXIII's first encyclical, Ad Petri Cathedram, was issued eight months into his pontificate. The second, Sacerdotii nostri primordia, commemorated the centenary of the death of St. John Vianney, while Grata recordatio considered the use of the Rosary. Mater et magistra, the fifth encyclical, carried forward ideas from Leo XIII's Rerum novarum (1891), which had been issued 70 years prior, as well as from Pius XI's Quadragesimo anno (1931). It is one of the longest encyclicals, at more than 25,000 words. John XXIII's final encyclical, Pacem in terris, was written two months before his death. It was the first in history to have been addressed to "all men of good will", rather than only the clergy and laity of the church, as well as hailed as "one of the most profound and significant documents of our age". (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Kaohsiung Confucius Temple is a temple dedicated to the memory of Confucius near Lotus Pond, Zuoying District, in the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. With an area of 167 m² (1,800 sq ft), it is Taiwan's largest Confucian temple complex. The temple was originally constructed in 1684, during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, but fell into disrepair during the Japanese colonial period. A new temple was constructed in 1976, based on Song dynasty architecture, as well as the design of the Temple of Confucius, Qufu.

This picture shows the Dacheng Hall, the main building of the temple.

Photograph credit: Uwe Aranas

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