Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 December 1

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From today's featured article

Carsten Borchgrevink (1864–1934) was an Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer and a pioneer of modern Antarctic travel. He was the precursor of Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen and others associated with the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. He began his exploring career in 1894 by joining a Norwegian whaling expedition, from which he brought back a collection of the first specimens of vegetable life within the Antarctic Circle. From 1898 to 1900 Borchgrevink led the British-financed Southern Cross Expedition, which in 1899 became the first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland and the first to visit the Great Ice Barrier since the expedition of Sir James Ross nearly sixty years previously. Borchgrevink landed on the Barrier with two companions and made the first sledge journey on its surface, setting a new Farthest South record at 78°50'S. He was one of three scientists sent to the Caribbean in 1902 by the National Geographic Society to report on the aftermath of the Mount Pelée disaster. His pioneering work was recognised and honoured by several countries, and in 1912 he received a handsome tribute from Roald Amundsen, conqueror of the South Pole. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that Max Carey (pictured) dropped out of seminary to play baseball?
... that illiterate Operation Hardnose spies used modified survival radios to count and report traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail?
... that 16th-century Spanish friar Domingo de Vico was sacrificed after scolding an Acala Ch'ol ruler over how many wives he had?
... that the Varagavank monastery was the site of Armenian resistance to Turkish government forces during the Armenian Genocide?
... that the fossil big-headed fly Priabona is named for the age of the rocks in which it was found?
... that the Loon Church, built between 1855 and 1864, was reduced to rubble when a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Bohol in 2013?
... that the Chinese land slug Rathouisia leonina is carnivorous?

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In the news

Australian Test cricketer Phillip Hughes (pictured) dies after being struck in the neck by a ball bowled to him.
A previously unknown William Shakespeare First Folio, dated to 1623, is discovered at a library in Saint-Omer, near Calais, France.
Rioting breaks out in Ferguson, Missouri, and protests occur across the United States, after a grand jury returns no indictment in the case of an unarmed suspect's fatal shooting by a police officer.
Magnus Carlsen defeats Viswanathan Anand to retain the World Chess Championship title.
In motor racing, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton wins the Formula One championship.
Opposition candidate Klaus Iohannis is elected President of Romania.

Ongoing: Ebola outbreak – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Chespirito – P. D. James – Pat Quinn

On this day...

December 1: World AIDS Day; Great Union Day in Romania (1918)

1828 – Juan Lavalle (pictured), returning to Buenos Aires with troops that fought in the Cisplatine War, deposed the provincial governor Manuel Dorrego, reigniting the Argentine Civil Wars.
1913 – Ford Motor Company began operating the world's first moving assembly line for the mass production of automobiles.
1941 – The Civil Air Patrol, the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force, was founded.
1959 – Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty, the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War, banning military activity in the Antarctic and setting the continent aside as a scientific preserve.
1990 – Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France met 40 metres (131 ft) beneath the English Channel seabed.

More anniversaries: November 30 – December 1 – December 2

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It is now December 1, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

From today's featured list

A red crest depicting a white horse facing right with its front-left and back-right hooves raised and standing under a golden crown, all outlined in black

A total of 41 counties in Romania, along with the municipality of Bucharest, constitute the official administrative divisions of Romania. For most of the time since modern Romania was formed in 1859, the administrative division system has been similar to the French departments one. The system has been changed several times since then, and the number of counties has varied over time. The current format has largely been in place since 1968 as only small changes have been made since then, the last of which was in 1997. According to 2011 census data from the National Institute of Statistics, the average population of Romania's 41 counties is about 445,000, with Iași County (coat of arms pictured) as the most populous and Covasna County the least. The average county's land area is 5,809 square kilometres (2,243 sq mi), with Timiș County the largest and Ilfov County the smallest. The municipality of Bucharest, which has the same administrative level as that of a county, is both more populous and much smaller than any county, with 1,883,425 people and 228 square kilometres (88 sq mi). (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Five views of the shell of the veined rapa whelk (Rapana venosa), a species of large predatory sea snail in the family Muricidae. The species' shell is rounded and heavy, possessing a very short spire, a large body whorl, a strong, orange columella and a deep umbilicus. The aperture is a deep orange, large, and roughly ovate. On the outside, the shell color varies from gray to reddish-brown, with dark brown dashes on the spiral ribs.

Photograph: H. Zell

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