Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 November 19

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The Wii is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. The fifth major home console released by the company, it is the successor to the GameCube and was released on November 19, 2006. Although a competitor in the seventh generation of video game consoles, the Wii aimed to appeal to a larger and broader target demographic, directing towards the "casual" market rather than the "core" audience. Features of the console include a controller that can be pointed at the screen to function as a pointing device, a Wi-Fi connection via WiiConnect24, and easy-to-navigate software. The console was formally revealed at E3 in 2005 by Satoru Iwata under the code name "Revolution". Other variants, such as the Wii Mini, were also released. The console won numerous awards and was praised for its broad-audience simplicity with some criticism for hardware limitations. By 2013, the Wii had sold over 100 million consoles internationally and was followed by the Wii U in 2012. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Ida Veldhuyzen van Zanten

... that about 700 airmen – and Ida Veldhuyzen van Zanten (pictured) – received the Dutch Airman's Cross?
... that Stembridge Gun Rentals supplied so many firearms to the film industry that when Chaplin producers asked for a rifle similar to that in Shoulder Arms, Stembridge had on hand the actual gun used?
... that more than 40 percent of women have dense breast tissue that increases the risk of breast cancer and makes it difficult for mammograms to identify tumors?
... that Metropolitan Opera star John Gurney performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" for sporting events in which his son, racing driver Dan Gurney, competed?
... that Oscarella tuberculata can reproduce by budding in a process unique among sponges?
... that Canadian diver Jeff Hirst won his event at the 1988 Canadian Championships despite having fractured his thumb five weeks before?
... that after discovering the mass graves of the Arnsberg Forest massacre, American soldiers ordered the entire local population to watch the exhumation?
... that the 1794 travelogue A Journey Around My Room contains details of the author's visits to his armchair and curtains?

In the news

SpaceX Crew-3 launch

Kosmos 1408 is destroyed by a Russian anti-satellite weapon, producing space debris.
We Continue the Change, led by Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev, wins the most seats in the Bulgarian general election.
SpaceX's Crew-3 mission (launch pictured) takes four astronauts to the International Space Station.
Former South African president F. W. de Klerk, who negotiated the end of apartheid with Nelson Mandela, dies at the age of 85.

On this day

November 19: International Men's Day; World Toilet Day; Liberation Day in Mali (1968)

Mayflower

1620 – The Mayflower (depicted), which brought the Pilgrims from England to the New World, sighted Cape Cod.
1941 – World War II: The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran destroyed each other in the Indian Ocean.
1969 – Playing for Santos against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian footballer Pelé scored his thousandth goal.
1991 – Mexican singer Luis Miguel released his album Romance, which led to the revival of interest in bolero music.
2004 – During a NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, a brawl between players spilled into the crowd when Ron Artest attacked a fan who had thrown a drink at him.

Mikhail Kalinin (b. 1875)
Xu Zhimo (d. 1931)
Ted Fujita (d. 1998)

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Chris Venables

The Cymru Premier Golden Boot is an annual association football award presented to the leading goalscorer in the Cymru Premier at the end of each season. The award was created in 1993 for the inaugural season of the competition, which was originally named the League of Wales. Steve Woods of Ebbw Vale was the first player to win the Golden Boot after scoring 29 times during the first season. Since then, the award has been handed out at the end of each of the league's 29 seasons of competition and has been won by 14 individuals as of June 2021. Rhys Griffiths has won the Golden Boot on more occasions than any other player, winning the award in seven consecutive seasons between 2006 and 2012. Chris Venables (pictured) has won the award on five occasions, Graham Evans on three occasions while Eifion Williams, Marc Lloyd Williams and Greg Draper have two awards each. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Alan Bean (1932–2018) was an American naval officer, naval aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. During the Apollo 12 mission, on 19–20 November 1969, he became the fourth person to walk on the Moon. This portrait photograph, taken by NASA two months before the mission, depicts Bean beside a mock-up of the Apollo Lunar Module, wearing his space suit without the helmet and gloves.

Photograph credit: NASA / Johnson Space Center

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