Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 February 15

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From today's featured article

Fantastic (1952–1980) was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, founded by Ziff Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Within a few years sales fell, and Howard Browne, the first editor, was forced to switch the focus to science fiction rather than fantasy. At the end of the 1950s Cele Goldsmith took over from Paul W. Fairman as editor of both Fantastic and Amazing, bringing in many new writers and making the magazines, in the words of one science fiction historian, the "best-looking and brightest" in the field. She helped to nurture the early careers of writers such as Roger Zelazny and Ursula K. Le Guin, but was unable to increase circulation. In 1965 the magazines were sold to Sol Cohen, who hired Joseph Wrzos as editor and switched to a reprint-only policy. This was financially successful, but brought Cohen into conflict with the newly formed Science Fiction Writers of America. After Ted White became editor in 1968, the reprints were phased out. White worked hard to make the magazine successful; his budget for fiction was low, but he was occasionally able to find good stories from well-known writers. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Pyramid of Neferirkare

... that the Fifth Dynasty Pyramid of Neferirkare (pictured) was originally conceived as a step pyramid, a design which had been deprecated at the end of the Third Dynasty more than a century prior?
... that in 1912, Granville Pearl Aikman, a judge of the 13th District Court of Kansas, appointed the first female bailiff in US history?
... that the critically endangered Tuncurry midge orchid is threatened by rabbits and urban developments?
... that French politician Ian Boucard was the announcer at ASM Belfort home matches?
... that the Los Frailes ignimbrite plateau has a volume of about 2,000 cubic kilometres (480 cu mi), and volcanism may have continued into the Holocene?
... that claims have been made that the headquarters of the African Union, donated by the Chinese government, was bugged by the Chinese?
... that the longest-serving woman in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland was also the grandmother of two prime ministers?
... that there is a conspiracy theory about the presence of an abandoned subway station in New York City east of Euclid Avenue?

In the news

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

A shooting at a school (pictured) in Parkland, Florida, United States, kills 17 people and injures at least 14 others.
Cyclone Gita strikes Tonga, becoming the strongest storm to hit the nation in over 60 years, and causing extensive damage.
Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes in Russia, killing all 71 people on board.
A bus accident kills 19 people in Hong Kong.
The Winter Olympics open in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The SpaceX launch vehicle Falcon Heavy makes its maiden flight, carrying Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload.

On this day...

February 15: National Flag of Canada Day; Statehood Day in Serbia (1804)

Flag of Canada

1823 – James McBrien made the first official discovery of gold in Australia at Fish River in New South Wales.
1900 – Second Boer War: British cavalry under Major-General John French defeated Boer forces to end a 124-day siege of Kimberley, present-day South Africa.
1965 – Canada adopted the Maple Leaf flag (pictured), replacing the Canadian Red Ensign.
1976 – The current Constitution of Cuba, providing for a system of government and law based on those of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries, was adopted by a national referendum.
2012 – A fire at the National Penitentiary at Comayagua, Honduras, killed 361 people, making it the deadliest prison fire ever.

Tiberios III/Leontios (d. 706) · Sophie Bryant (b. 1850) · Irena Sendler (b. 1910)

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Today's featured picture

Achillea millefolium is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Asia, Europe, and North America, it has been introduced as a feed for livestock in New Zealand and Australia. In antiquity, this plant was used to stanch the flow of blood from wounds. Today, it is frequently cultivated as an ornamental plant in plant nurseries, although it is sometimes considered a weed.

Photograph: Petar Milošević

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