Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 December 18b

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From today's featured article

Mount Takahe is a 3,460-metre-high (11,350 ft) snow-covered shield volcano in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, 200 kilometres (120 mi) from the Amundsen Sea. It is about 30 kilometres (20 mi) wide with parasitic vents and a caldera up to 8 kilometres (5 mi) wide. Most of the volcano was formed by trachytic lava flows. It reached its present height about 200,000 years ago. Snow, ice, and glaciers cover most of Mount Takahe. With a volume of 780 km³ (200 cu mi), it is a massive volcano; the parts of the edifice that are buried underneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are probably even larger. It is part of the West Antarctic Rift System along with eighteen other known volcanoes. A major eruption took place around 17,700 years ago, possibly forming an ozone hole over Antarctica. The last eruption occurred about 7,600 years ago; there is no present-day activity. The name of the volcano refers to the takahē, a flightless bird from New Zealand. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Nabil Ahmad

... that Nabil Ahmad (pictured) became a comedian after a friend signed him up for a reality show as a prank?
... that the Indian wax scale was first described in 1798 by Fabricius, but was wrongly attributed to another author for nearly two hundred years?
... that poet Lynda Schraufnagel, little known in her lifetime, was mourned after her death at 40 for her "funkiness" and "manic glee"?
... that the 104th (New Brunswick) Regiment of Foot marched 1,100 kilometres (680 mi), some of it in snowshoes, during the Canadian winter to fight in the War of 1812?
... that Jimmy Bonner became the first African American to play baseball professionally in Japan in 1936, eleven years before Jackie Robinson's Major League Baseball debut?
... that a museum in Sendai was built around a 20,000-year-old campsite?
... that when Cotton Queen Frances Lockett was crowned in 1930, souvenir handkerchiefs made from "Queenetta" fabric were sold?
... that while the Gateway Generating Station was completed without controversy or setbacks, it was later the subject of a lawsuit over endangered butterflies?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Vaccines; Portal

Chang'e 5

The Chang'e 5 (illustration shown) sample-return mission returns lunar material to Earth.
Nana Akufo-Addo is re-elected for a second term as President of Ghana.
In motorsport, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia win the World Rally Championship, while Hyundai win the manufacturers' title.
Hayabusa2 successfully returns samples collected from asteroid 162173 Ryugu to Earth.

On this day

December 18: National Day in Qatar (1878)

Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat

1622 – Portuguese forces and their Imbangala allies defeated the Kongo army at the Battle of Mbumbi.
1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat (pictured) set the first official land speed record, averaging 63.15 km/h (39.24 mph) over 1 km (0.62 mi) in Achères, France.
1932 – Playing indoors at Chicago Stadium on a modified American football field, the Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans in the first playoff game of the National Football League.
2017 – An Amtrak Cascades passenger train derailed near DuPont, Washington, killing three people and injuring sixty-five others.

Charles Wesley (b. 1707)
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (d. 1829)
Keith Richards (b. 1943)

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Mark Williams

Championships were held across three continents in 2018 to determine the best players in major cue sports, including snooker, pool, and English billiards. The snooker season runs between May and April, while the pool and billiards seasons run through the calendar year. Four men's adult world championships were held in 2018, with Mark Williams (pictured) winning the World Snooker Championship, Joshua Filler holding the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, Sourav Kothari the World Billiards Championship and Dick Jaspers winning the UMB World Three-cushion Championship. Three women's world championships were also held, with Han Yu winning the WPA Women's World Nine-ball Championship, the World Billiards Championship being won by Emma Bonney and Ng On-yee winning the World Women's Snooker Championship. The snooker Triple Crown featured Ronnie O'Sullivan winning the UK Championship, while the Masters was won by Mark Allen. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

English Gothic architecture is an architectural style that flourished in England in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. The defining features of Gothic architecture are pointed arches, rib vaults, buttresses, and extensive use of stained glass. The Gothic style endured in England until the early 16th century – much longer than in Continental Europe, from where it had been introduced. This photograph shows the Gothic cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral, which have the earliest surviving fan vaults in the country, designed between 1351 and 1377. The cloisters were used as a backdrop in three of the Harry Potter films.

Photograph credit: Christopher J. T. Cherrington

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