Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 September 18b

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Acamptonectes fossil specimen discovered in Germany in 2005

Acamptonectes is a genus of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs, dolphin-like marine reptiles that lived during the Early Cretaceous around 130 million years ago. The first specimen—a partial adult skeleton—was discovered in Speeton, England, in 1958, but it was not formally described until 2012. Acamptonectes had unusual adaptations that made its trunk rigid, including tightly-fitting bones in the occiput (back and lower part of the skull) and interlocking vertebral centra, likely allowing it to swim at high speeds with a tuna-like form of locomotion. Other distinguishing characteristics include an extremely slender snout and unique ridges on the basioccipital bone of the braincase. As an ichthyosaur, Acamptonectes had large eye sockets and a tail fluke. Its teeth, which were slender and textured with longitudinal ridges, were probably adapted for impaling prey such as squid and fleshy fish. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Cambus O' May bridge

... that Prince Charles donated money to help repair the Cambus O' May bridge (pictured) after it was badly damaged by Storm Frank in 2015?
... that Mariner 1, the United States' first interplanetary probe, was lost in 1962 due to the miscoding of a single character in its software?
... that more than fifty years after Hilde Scheppan appeared in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the 1943 Bayreuth Festival, reviewer Alan Blyth called her "a dream of an Eva"?
... that in 1908, you could "throw a cat through the cracks" of the dynamite shanties on Powder House Island?
... that the sea anemone Metridium dianthus is parasitised by the sea spider Pycnogonum litorale?
... that Jonathan Trichter, a registered Democrat, was the Republican nominee for New York State Comptroller in 2018?
... that scouring in wool is among the essential pre-treatments of textiles that prepares them for subsequent processes such as bleaching, dyeing, and printing?
... that Julio Mayora was most happy about winning his silver medal for Venezuela at the 2020 Summer Olympics because it meant the government might give his mother a house?

In the news

Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Former President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika (pictured) dies at the age of 84.
SpaceX launches Inspiration4, the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight.
The United States, United Kingdom and Australia sign a security pact that will provide Australia with nuclear submarines.
British tennis player Emma Raducanu wins the US Open, becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
In Gaelic football, Tyrone win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, defeating Mayo in the final.

On this day

September 18

Illuminated tram in Blackpool

324 – Constantine the Great decisively defeated Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire and ending the Tetrarchy.
1879 – The Blackpool Illuminations (example pictured) in the English seaside town of Blackpool were switched on for the first time.
1948 – The Australian cricket team's Invincibles tour of England concluded; they had played 34 matches, including five Tests, without defeat.
1961 – A plane crashed under mysterious circumstances near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia, resulting in the deaths of United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld and 15 others on board.
2001 – Five letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to various media outlets in the United States.

Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford (b. 1501)
André Dacier (d. 1722)
Jamey Rodemeyer (d. 2011)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

The siege of Osaka was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in the clan's dissolution. Divided into two stages (the winter campaign and the summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the shogunate's establishment. This eight-metre-long (26 ft) painting, titled The Summer Battle of Osaka Castle and executed on a Japanese folding screen, illustrates Osaka Castle under siege, and was commissioned by the daimyo Kuroda Nagamasa, who took a team of painters with him to the battlefield to record the event. The painting depicts 5071 people and 21 generals, and is held in the collection of Osaka Castle.

Painting credit: unknown

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.