Wikipedia:Main Page history/2022 January 2b

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From today's featured article

John Neal

Seventy-Six is a historical fiction novel by American writer John Neal (pictured). Published in Baltimore in 1823, it is the fourth novel written about the American Revolutionary War. Historically distinguished for its pioneering use of colloquial language, the Yankee dialect, battle scene realism, high characterization, stream of consciousness narrative, profanity, and depictions of sex and romance, the novel foreshadowed and influenced later American fiction. With narrative prose that resembles spoken American English more than any other period literature, it was the first work of American fiction to use the phrase son-of-a-bitch. It explores male pain and self-loathing resulting from violent acts committed in war and duels. Inspired by his own historical research, Neal took only twenty-seven days to write the 528-page novel, reporting that "I tumbled out of my chair" because "I had fainted, – swooned, – from overwork." (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Individual E. persephone with 1,306 legs

... that with more than 1,000 legs, Eumillipes persephone (example pictured) is the first known "true" millipede?
... that the USFL is in talks with officials from Birmingham, Alabama, with the goal of hosting the entirety of the 2022 USFL season in the city?
... that when flying ace Julius Busa's aircraft was hit at 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), his observer leapt overboard without a parachute?
... that Ethel Barrymore, Marilyn Miller, Mary Pickford, and Rosa Ponselle have been standing at 1552 Broadway since 1929?
... that blind botanist John Grimshaw Wilkinson used his tongue to tell the difference between plants?
... that the world's only museum devoted to American actor Phil Silvers is located in Coventry, England?
... that Sumitro Djojohadikusumo expected the majority of the beneficiaries of his economic policy might turn out to be "parasites"?
... that about three million people employed Dr. Halo between 1984 and 1993?

In the news

Betty White

American actress and comedian Betty White (pictured) dies at the age of 99.
In Hong Kong, Stand News closes down after its staff are arrested for sedition.
The Supreme Court of Russia orders the closure of Memorial, Russia's oldest human rights group, for violations of the foreign agent law.
In cricket, Australia retains the Ashes after winning the first three Tests against England.

On this day

January 2: Feast day of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus and Saint Basil of Caesarea (Roman Rite Catholicism, Anglicanism)

Urbain Le Verrier

533 – Mercurius, a Roman priest, was elected Pope John II; he was apparently the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
1680 – Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram of Java and his courtiers stabbed Trunajaya to death a week after the rebel leader surrendered to VOC forces.
1860 – French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier (pictured) announced the putative discovery of the planet Vulcan at a meeting at the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.
1944 – World War II: The United States and Australia successfully landed 13,000 troops in Papua New Guinea in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat.
1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong won its first major victory at the Battle of Ap Bac.

Lodomer (d. 1298)
Tex Rickard (b. 1870)
Dnyaneshwar Agashe (d. 2009)

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Today's featured picture

The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) is the most widespread of the New World vultures, with a range extending from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. It feeds primarily on a wide variety of carrion, from small mammals to large herbivores, preferring those recently dead to putrefying carcasses; it rarely kills prey itself. Populations appear to be stable, and it is listed as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This photograph shows a turkey vulture in flight in Cuba. It employs static soaring flight, in which it flaps its wings infrequently, and takes advantage of rising thermals to stay aloft.

Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp

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