Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 March 5

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From today's featured article

The Riegelmann Boardwalk (also known as the Coney Island Boardwalk) is a 2.7-mile-long (4.3 km) boardwalk along the southern shore of the Coney Island peninsula in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean. Opened in 1923, it has become an icon of Coney Island, with appearances in the visual arts, music, and film. The boardwalk has been considered the most important public works project in Brooklyn since the Brooklyn Bridge, with an impact comparable to Central Park. By the mid-19th century, the Coney Island waterfront was divided by owners who erected barriers. First discussed in the late 1890s as a means of uniting the different sections of Coney Island, the boardwalk was designed by Philip P. Farley, and named for Brooklyn borough president Edward J. Riegelmann, who championed its construction. Its first portion opened in 1923, and it connects sites such as the New York Aquarium, Luna Park and MCU Park. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Mr. Touchdown pictured in 1951

... that Bobby Reynolds (pictured) was known as "Mr. Touchdown" after winning a promotional contest for the song "Mr. Touchdown, U.S.A."?
... that Mexican political party Progressive Social Networks allowed party members to vote in internal elections using a smartphone app?
... that Joel S. Levine led a team of 12 NASA scientists to investigate why the U.S. Constitution was deteriorating?
... that when Dubliners donated more than 630 trees for amaptocare in Ballymun, artist Jochen Gerz offered a face-to-face meeting to each sponsor to choose their tree's personal permanent inscription?
... that Nathan Abshire was considered an "accomplished musician" at eight years old after learning to play on an accordion that cost $3.50?
... that NASCAR races on the Daytona International Speedway infield road course for the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series were added to the schedule two years in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
... that the adult i phenotype, a rare blood type, has been associated with being born with cataracts in some populations?
... that the world's richest farmer, Qin Yinglin, started out with just 22 pigs?

In the news

Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic

In Zamfara, Nigeria, 279 girls who had been kidnapped from a secondary school by armed bandits are released.
In tennis, Naomi Osaka wins the women's singles and Novak Djokovic wins the men's singles at the Australian Open (both winners pictured).
Porfirije is enthroned as the 46th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
NASA's Perseverance rover, carrying the Ingenuity helicopter, successfully lands on Mars.

On this day

March 5: Learn from Lei Feng Day in China; St Piran's Day in Cornwall, England

Sinclair ZX81

363 – Roman–Persian Wars: Roman emperor Julian and his army set out from Antioch to attack the Sasanian Empire.
1811 – Peninsular War: At the Battle of Barrosa, Anglo-Iberian forces trying to lift the Siege of Cádiz defeated a French attack but could not break the siege itself.
1943 – World War II: The Gloster Meteor, the Allies' only operational jet aircraft, made its maiden flight.
1963 – American country-music performers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed when their PA-24 crashed shortly after takeoff in Camden, Tennessee.
1981 – The ZX81 (example pictured), a pioneering British home computer, was launched by Sinclair Research, and went on to sell more than 1.5 million units around the world.

Louis I of Hungary (b. 1326)
J. R. Kealoha (d. 1877)
Mary Louise Booth (d. 1889)

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From today's featured list

Madonna

Various academic works have been generated from the life and work of American singer Madonna. According to critic Paul Northup, writing in Third Way, "eminent authors and academics have pored over her tirelessly since she burst onto the pop scene in the early Eighties". Many authors have written more than one book about Madonna and these have been published in multiple languages other than English, including German, French, Dutch, Spanish and Italian. According to journalist Annalee Newitz, "the academics in the fields of theology to queer studies have written literally volumes about what Madonna's fame means for gender relations, American culture, and the future". Biographies released about the singer include Madonna: An Intimate Biography (2002) by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Madonna (2001) by Andrew Morton, Madonna: Like an Icon (2007) by Lucy O'Brien, Life with My Sister Madonna (2008) by her brother Christopher Ciccone, and Madonna: Bawdy and Soul (1997) by Karlene Faith. Various academic essays and dissertations, as well as analysis of the singer, have given rise to the term "Madonna studies", denoted by author Robert Miklitsch as a "political-cultural" phenomenon. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Lansdowne Heracles is a Roman marble sculpture dating from about 125 CE. It represents the hero Heracles as a beardless youth grasping the skin of the Nemean lion with his club upon his shoulder. The statue was discovered in 1790 on the site of Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, and is now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum's Getty Villa in Malibu, California.

Sculpture credit: unknown; photographed by the J. Paul Getty Museum

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