Wikipedia:Main Page history/2022 October 31
From today's featured article
The pale crag martin (Ptyonoprogne obsoleta) is a bird in the swallow family that is resident in northern Africa and in southwestern Asia. It breeds in mountains, other rocky areas and towns. It is 12–13 cm (4.5–5 in) long, with mainly brown plumage, and paler below, with white "windows" on the tail that show as it hunts along cliffs for flying insects. It builds a deep bowl or quarter-sphere nest on a flat surface, vertical rock face or wall, made with mud and lined with grass or feathers. It is normally a solitary breeder, but small groups may sometimes nest close together. The two or three eggs of a typical clutch are white with brown and grey blotches, and are incubated by both adults for 16–19 days prior to hatching. Both parents then feed the chicks. Fledging takes another 22–24 days. With a large range and apparently increasing population, this species faces no major threats. It is assessed as a least-concern species on the IUCN Red List. (This article is part of a featured topic: Crag martins.)
Did you know ...
- ... that Windham William Sadler (pictured) made the first crossing of the Irish Sea by balloon in 1817, five years after his father had failed to achieve the same feat?
- ... that the "awkward, cramped galleries" at 2 Columbus Circle later housed New York City government offices?
- ... that the perpetrator of the 2015 Heze bombing was described as normal just days before the attack?
- ... that after civil rights activist Andrew Goodman was murdered, Mary Doyle Curran found and published a poem that Goodman had written for her class?
- ... that at 6 by 22 metres (20 by 72 feet), Zeitlaich is Jonas Burgert's largest oil painting?
- ... that after journalist Adele Ferguson's criticism of the U.S. Navy's sex discrimination attracted nationwide attention, she was offered a personal tour of a nuclear submarine?
- ... that a travelling museum exhibition in Japan displays "life-size" renditions of Pokémon skeletons alongside the fossils of actual prehistoric animals?
- ... that Cheekface announced their third album via postcards sent to fans?
In the news
- In the Brazilian general election, two-term former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (pictured) defeats incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
- In India, a footbridge collapse in Morbi, Gujarat, results in the deaths of at least 141 people.
- In baseball, the Orix Buffaloes defeat the Tokyo Yakult Swallows to win the Japan Series.
- More than 100 people are killed and 300 others are injured by two car bombs in Mogadishu, Somalia.
- At least 154 people are killed and more than 130 others are injured in a crowd crush during Halloween festivities in Seoul, South Korea.
On this day
- 475 – Romulus Augustulus took the throne as the last effective ruling emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
- 1913 – Public-transportation workers in Indianapolis went on strike (pictured), shutting down mass transit in the city.
- 1973 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that landed in the prison's exercise yard.
- 2005 – The discovery of the Plutonian moons Nix and Hydra, based on photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope nearly five months prior, was announced.
- Natalie Clifford Barney (b. 1876)
- Michael Collins (b. 1930)
- Bill Kibby (d. 1942)
From today's featured list
In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 50 home run club is the group of batters who have hit 50 or more home runs in a single season. Babe Ruth (pictured) was the first to achieve this, doing so in 1920. By reaching the milestone, he also became the first player to hit 30 and then 40 home runs in a single-season, breaking his own record of 29 from the 1919 season. Ruth subsequently became the first player to reach the 50 home run club on four occasions, repeating the achievement in 1921, 1927 and 1928. He remained the only player to accomplish this until Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa matched his feat in 1999 and 2001, respectively, thus becoming the only players to achieve four consecutive 50 home run seasons. Barry Bonds hit the most home runs to join the club, collecting 73 in 2001. The most recent player to reach the milestone is Aaron Judge, achieving the feat for the second time during the 2022 season. In total, 30 players have reached the 50 home run club in MLB history. (Full list...)
Today's featured picture
Tomb of the architect Giovanni Battista Gisleni (1600–1672) in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. The figure of a skeleton was sculpted by the architect before his death. The carved text reads Neque hic vivus (not visible in this image) and Neque illic mortuus (Latin: "Neither living here — nor dead there"). Text in the two tondi (circles) reads In nidulo meo moriar ("In my nest I die" i.e. in Rome) and Ut phoenix multiplicabo dies ("As a phoenix I multiply my days"). credit: Joaquim Alves Gaspar
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