Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 March 5

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From today's featured article

Dream of the Rarebit Fiend was a newspaper comic strip by American cartoonist Winsor McCay, begun September 10, 1904, that depicted fantastic bizarre dreams. It was McCay's second successful strip, after Little Sammy Sneeze secured him a position on the cartoon staff of the New York Herald. Rarebit Fiend was printed in the Evening Telegram, a newspaper published by the Herald. The strip had no continuity or recurring characters. Instead, it had a recurring theme: a character would have a nightmare or other bizarre dream, usually after eating a Welsh rarebit—a cheese-on-toast dish. The dreams often revealed unflattering sides of the dreamers' psyches—their phobias, hypocrisies, discomforts, and dark fantasies. The strip is mostly recognized as an adult-oriented precursor to McCay's signature strip, Little Nemo. The popularity of Rarebit Fiend and Nemo led to a job with William Randolph Hearst's chain of newspapers with a star's salary. Many characters from the strip, such as giant monsters laying waste to cities, anticipated later fiction and films, including King Kong and Godzilla. (Full article...)

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St John the Baptist Church, Rochdale

... that St John the Baptist Church (pictured) in Rochdale was designed by a dead architect?
... that Debopriya and Suchismita Chatterjee, the "flute sisters", are Indian instrumentalists trained by Hariprasad Chaurasia?
... that the yellow-eyed pigeon is rated as a vulnerable species because it is hunted in both its breeding and overwintering range?
... that Laurie G. Lachance is the first alumna to serve as president of Thomas College of Waterville, Maine, in the school's 118-year history?
... that the medieval era Hindu text Bahvricha Upanishad states that the material cause of the universe is a Goddess?
... that Texas A&M University–Commerce organized a special commencement ceremony for Charles Tuaau when his Kansas City Chiefs minicamp obligations conflicted with his graduation?
... that the inauguration of Argentine president Mauricio Macri was completed by the acting president Federico Pinedo, and not by outgoing president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner?
... that the 17th-century Chinese poet and government official Song Wan was so scared of rebels that he died of fright?

In the news

Whitfield Diffie

In the Irish general election, the ruling Fine Gael–Labour coalition loses its majority and over a third of its vote, but Fine Gael narrowly remains the largest party.
Whitfield Diffie (pictured) and Martin Hellman win the Turing Award for introducing the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures.
Mad Max: Fury Road wins six awards and Spotlight wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Thirty-six people are killed in a series of explosions in a coal mine near Vorkuta, Russia.
The Jamaica Labour Party, led by Andrew Holness, wins a narrow majority in the Jamaican general election.

Ongoing events:
- Zika virus outbreak
- European migrant crisis
Recent deaths:
- Martin Crowe
- George Kennedy

On this day...

March 5: Learn From Lei Feng Day in China; St Piran's Day in Cornwall, United Kingdom

Supermarine Spitfire

1279 – The Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order suffered a great loss when 71 knights died in the Battle of Aizkraukle.
1616 – Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, describing his heliocentric theory of the Solar System, was prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church.
1811 – Peninsular War: In the Battle of Barrosa, an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese force trying to lift the Siege of Cádiz was able to defeat a French attack, although they were ultimately unable to break the siege itself.
1936 – The prototype of the Supermarine Spitfire (pictured), a British single-seat fighter that was later used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries during the Second World War, flew for the first time.
1966 – BOAC Flight 911 disintegrated and crashed near Mount Fuji shortly after departure from Tokyo International Airport, killing all 113 passengers and 11 crew members on board.

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Today's featured picture

Evening Snow on the Heater, a mid-18th century ukiyo-e print by Japanese artist Suzuki Harunobu (1725–70), displays Harunobu's mastery of the then-new polychromatic nishiki-e (or "brocade") print, as well as luxurious techniques such as extensive embossing.

Painting: Suzuki Harunobu

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