Wikipedia:Main Page history/2022 October 31b
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 a Halloween-themed protest was held at the former Regent Cinema (pictured), urging the owners to "raise [it] from the dead"?
- ... that Matthias Hanke, an organist and choral leader by age 14, in due course became responsible for all Protestant church music in Württemberg?
- ... that the steamboat carrying the 9th Missouri Sharpshooter Battalion back from its military service sank in the Red River of the South?
- ... that Margie Masters made the cut at a golf tournament despite being shot at by a sniper on the course?
- ... that Delaware weekly newspaper The Faulkland Quiz was founded, edited and published by an 18-year-old?
- ... that Rabab Al-Kadhimi was threatened with deportation from Egypt due to the political nature of her poetry?
- ... that the Chicago "L"'s Laflin station had an elevator for caskets?
- ... that Martin Pipe's training methods for steeplechasers were so effective, he was investigated twice for cheating?
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 155 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 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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