Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 February 22

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Banksia aemula, commonly known as the wallum banksia, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae. Found from Bundaberg south to Sydney on the Australian east coast, it is encountered as a shrub or a tree up to 8 m (26 ft) tall in coastal heath on deep sandy soil known as Wallum. It has wrinkled orange bark and shiny green serrated leaves, with green-yellow flower spikes, called inflorescences, appearing in autumn. The flower spikes turn grey as they age and large grey follicles appear. B. aemula resprouts from its woody lignotuber after bushfires. Aemula, Latin for "similar", comes from its resemblance to the closely related Banksia serrata. First described by the botanist Robert Brown in the early 19th century, it was known for many years in New South Wales as Banksia serratifolia. This name, originally coined by Richard Anthony Salisbury, proved invalid, and since 1981 Banksia aemula has been accepted as the scientific name. A wide array of mammals, invertebrates, and birds, particularly honeyeaters, visit the inflorescences and are instrumental in pollination. It is grown as a garden plant, but less commonly than B. serrata. (Full article...)

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Kashmir papier-mâché with paint and gold leaf

... that Kashmir papier-mâché (pictured), a colourful painted handicraft of Kashmir that was brought by Shia Muslims from Persia in the 15th century, is based primarily on paper pulp?
... that Wang Baosen, vice mayor of Beijing, committed suicide while under investigation for corruption?
... that the Wadamisaki Battery was the first national historic site registered in Hyōgo Prefecture?
... that Astrid Schirmer appeared in roles by Richard Wagner, both Venus and Elisabeth in his Tannhäuser, and in the Bayreuth Jahrhundertring as both Ortlinde and Sieglinde?
... that the Bangalore Blue variety of grape has been grown for the past 150 years exclusively in the districts of Bangalore Urban, Chikkaballapura and Kolar?
... that the association footballer Dick Pudan was banned from the sport in 1907 after he walked out on his club, which had refused to let him play professional cricket too?
... that in Abandon the Old in Tokyo, Yoshihiro Tatsumi wanted to depict postwar Japan, where he felt that the focus on economic growth was given precedence over the lifestyles of its people?
... that the 1628 Robletti edition of Il Primo Libro delle Canzoni by Girolamo Frescobaldi was dedicated to Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who engaged him as a court musician?

In the news

Cyclone Winston on February 20

Cyclone Winston (satellite image pictured), the strongest tropical cyclone on record to strike Fiji, kills at least thirteen people.
A bombing in Ankara, Turkey, kills at least twenty-eight people and injures more than sixty others.
The Revenant wins five awards, including Best Film and Best Director, at the British Academy Film Awards.
Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill jointly call for an end to persecution of Christians in the Middle East and to wars in the region.
Scientists using the LIGO detector announce the first direct observation of gravitational waves.

Ongoing events:
- Zika virus outbreak
- European migrant crisis
Recent deaths:

On this day...

February 22: Feast of Cathedra Petri (Catholicism)

Shukri al-Quwatli

1316 – The forces of the infante Ferdinand of Majorca fought against those loyal to Princess Matilda of Hainaut in the Battle of Picotin on the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece.
1632 – Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, in which he advocated Copernican heliocentrism, was delivered to his patron, Grand Duke Ferdinando.
1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: British ships began attacking the Spanish rear of a Franco-Spanish combined fleet in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast near Toulon, France.
1899 – Philippine–American War: Filipino forces launched their first counterattack in a failed attempt aimed at recapturing Manila from the Americans.
1958 – Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli (pictured) signed a union pact to form the United Arab Republic.
2006 – At least six men staged Britain's biggest cash robbery ever at a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

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From today's featured list

Nikita Khrushchev

The 22nd Presidium of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union lasted from 1961 to 1966. A member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a member of the nomenklatura, the country's de facto ruling class. Nikita Khrushchev (pictured) chaired the Presidium from 1955 to 1964; Leonid Brezhnev succeeded him that year and chaired until 1982. In contrast to full members, candidate members of the Presidium could not vote during Presidium sessions. It was normal that a full member of the Presidium had previously served as a candidate member, but this was not always the case. During the period, 23 people held seats in the Presidium: 14 full members and 9 candidate members. The Central Committee was, according to sovietologists Merle Fainsod and Jerry F. Hough, elected unanimously at the 22nd Party Congress (17–31 October 1961). The 22nd Central Committee in turn elected the Politburo unanimously. (Full list...)

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Darwinius is a genus of strepsirrhine primates from the middle Eocene epoch. The only known fossil, a juvenile female named Ida, was discovered in 1983 in the Messel pit, Germany. After the amateur excavation the fossil was divided into a slab and partial counterslab, which were sold separately and not reassembled until 2007. Two years later, the species was formally described.

Photograph: Jens L. Franzen, Philip D. Gingerich, Jörg Habersetzer1, Jørn H. Hurum, Wighart von Koenigswald, B. Holly Smith

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