Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 September 1

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From today's featured article

Level Mountain is a large volcanic complex in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, with a maximum elevation of 2,164 m (7,100 ft). The lower half of Level Mountain consists of a shield-like edifice while its upper half has a more steep, jagged profile. Its broad summit is dominated by the Level Mountain Range, with prominent peaks cut by deep valleys. The mountain began forming about 15 million years ago, with volcanism continuing up until geologically recent times. Level Mountain can be ecologically divided into three sections: an alpine climate at its summit, firs and birches on its flanks and a spruce forest at its base. Several animal species thrive in the area of Level Mountain, with caribou being the most abundant. Due to its remoteness, Level Mountain can only be accessed by air or by trekking great distances on foot; the closest communities are more than 30 km (19 mi) away. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Gleninsheen gorget

... that when the Irish Bronze Age Gleninsheen gorget (pictured) was found in 1930 by a local hunting rabbits, he brought the "queer looking thing" to his uncle, who would not let it be kept in his house?
... that Evelyn van Leeuwen won a wheelchair basketball silver medal at the 1996 Paralympics and twenty years later she won a bronze at the 2016 Games?
... that the New York Times bestseller Fablehaven was written by Brandon Mull following the rejection of his first manuscript?
... that the slave trader William James left for his country retreat before rioting sailors ransacked his home?
... that the architect of 275 Madison Avenue did not include much exterior decoration because he wanted the building to be "shadow-less"?
... that Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva fell in love with Brajesh Singh, whom she considered her husband although they were never allowed to marry?
... that the comb jelly Beroe gracilis feeds on other comb jellies, swallowing them whole?
... that Meme Man is used in many surreal memes, a genre of internet humor inspired by surrealism?

In the news

Paralympics opening ceremony

Amid evacuations from Afghanistan, a suicide bombing kills at least 182 people at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Tokyo, Japan.
Ismail Sabri Yaakob is appointed as prime minister by the King of Malaysia.
Hakainde Hichilema is elected President of Zambia.
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Haiti kills more than 2,200 people.

On this day

September 1

The rescue of crew of Pisces III in the Irish Sea

1529 – Sancti Spiritu, the first European settlement in Argentina, was destroyed by Amerindians.
1859 – A powerful solar flare caused a coronal mass ejection that struck Earth a few hours later, generating the most intense geomagnetic storm ever recorded and causing bright aurorae visible in the middle latitudes.
1914 – The passenger pigeon, which once numbered in the billions, became extinct when the last individual died in captivity.
1973 – A 76-hour multinational rescue effort in the Irish Sea resulted in the deepest sub rescue in history (pictured).
1983 – A Soviet jet interceptor shot down the civilian Korean Air Lines Flight 007 near the island of Sakhalin in the north Pacific, killing all 246 passengers and 23 crew on board.

Ferenc Gyulay (b. 1799; d. 1868)
Walter Reuther (b. 1907)
Margaret Mary Vojtko (d. 2013)

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Today's featured picture

Pieris brassicae, the large white, is a species of butterfly in the family Pieridae, common in Europe, Asia and North Africa. The larva, pictured here at a market in Fronton, France, is a serious pest of plants in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. The eggs are laid in batches on the undersides of the leaves of plants rich in mustard-oil glucosides, and consumption of these substances as they chew the leaves makes the larvae distasteful; the bright colouration of the larvae signals to predators that they taste bad. Additionally, the adult butterflies emit an unpleasant smell and display warning colours.

Photograph credit: Didier Descouens

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