Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 2015
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May 1
The Tower House in London's Holland Park district of Kensington and Chelsea is a late Victorian townhouse, built between 1875 and 1881 by the architect and designer William Burges as his personal residence. Designed in the French Gothic Revival style, it was described by the architectural historian J. Mordaunt Crook as "the most complete example of a medieval secular interior produced by the Gothic Revival, and the last". The exterior and the interior echo elements of Burges's earlier work. The house was built of red brick, with a distinctive cylindrical tower and conical roof, by the Ashby Brothers, with interior decoration by members of Burges's long-standing team of craftsmen including Thomas Nicholls and Henry Stacy Marks. The house retains most of its internal structural decoration, but much of the furniture, fittings and contents that Burges designed have been dispersed. Many items, including the Great Bookcase, the Zodiac Settle, the Golden Bed and the Red Bed, are now in institutions such as The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was designated a Grade I listed building in 1949. (Full article...)
May 2
California Chrome (foaled 2011) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, and was the 2014 American Horse of the Year. His fans—called "Chromies"—supported him at his races as "the people's horse". His owners, Perry Martin and Steve Coburn, named their partnership DAP Racing, standing for "Dumb Ass Partners"—inspired by a passerby who questioned their wisdom in purchasing the horse's dam. Critics did not think the colt, trained by Art Sherman and ridden by Victor Espinoza, could win the Kentucky Derby due to his humble origins and pedigree, but California Chrome defied the skeptics and won. After the Preakness, anticipation rose that he could win the Triple Crown in the 2014 Belmont Stakes. But in that race, California Chrome was stepped on by another horse at the start, tearing tissue from his heel, and finished fourth. Healing from his injury, he raced in the fall, running third in the Breeders' Cup Classic and winning the Hollywood Derby. He received the 2014 Secretariat Vox Populi Award, the NTRA Moment of the Year, and Eclipse Awards for Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse and Horse of the Year. (Full article...)
May 3
The Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus) is a primate species native to western and central Java in Indonesia, most closely related to the Sunda and Bengal slow lorises. The species has two forms distinguishable by hair length and coloration, both with a prominent white diamond pattern on the forehead. It weighs between 565 and 687 g (1.246 and 1.515 lb) and has a head-body length of about 293 mm (11.5 in). Like all lorises it is arboreal, and moves slowly across vines and lianas instead of jumping from tree to tree. It is usually found in primary and secondary forests, and sometimes in bamboo and mangrove forests or chocolate plantations. Its diet typically consists of fruit, tree gum, lizards and eggs. It is usually seen alone or in pairs, and sleeps on exposed branches, sometimes in groups. Its population is in sharp decline through habitat loss and poaching, for the exotic pet trade and sometimes for traditional medicine. Listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered, it is protected by Indonesian law, but the wildlife protection laws are rarely enforced at the local level. (Full article...)
May 4
Secret of Mana is a 1993 action role-playing game in the Mana series, developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The sequel to the 1991 game Final Fantasy Adventure (Mystic Quest in Europe), the game follows three heroes as they attempt to prevent an empire from conquering the world from an ancient flying warship. Unlike other role-playing games of the time, it features pausable real-time battles. A cooperative multiplayer system allows a second or third player to drop in and out of the game at any time. Secret of Mana was directed and designed by Koichi Ishii, programmed primarily by Nasir Gebelli (pictured), and produced by veteran Square designer Hiromichi Tanaka. The game received considerable acclaim for its brightly colored graphics, expansive plot, innovative menus, and real-time battle system. Critics also praised the soundtrack by Hiroki Kikuta and the customizable artificial intelligence settings for computer-controlled allies. The original version was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2008, an additional release for mobile phones in Japan was produced in 2009, and an enhanced port of the game was released for iOS in 2010 and Android in 2014. (Full article...)
May 5
Kosta Pećanac (1879–1944) was a Serbian Chetnik commander during both of the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II. Pećanac (pictured, second from left) fought on the Serbian side in the Balkan Wars and World War I, joining the Toplica uprising of 1917. After the war he was an important leader of Chetnik veteran associations, known for his strong hostility to the Yugoslav Communist Party, which made him popular with conservatives. As president of the Chetnik Association, he transformed the association during the 1930s into an aggressively partisan Serb political organisation with over half a million members. During World War II, Pećanac collaborated with the German military administration and with their Serbian puppet government in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. In July 1942, rival Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović arranged for the Yugoslav government-in-exile to denounce Pećanac as a traitor, and his continuing collaboration with the Germans ruined what remained of the reputation he had developed in the Balkan Wars and World War I. By March 1943, the Germans saw Pećanac's Chetniks as inefficient and unreliable, and disbanded them. He was interned, then killed in May or June 1944 by agents of Mihailović. (Full article...)
May 6
The 2002 Pacific typhoon season, covering the Pacific north of the equator and west of the International Date Line, was very active, with many tropical cyclones affecting the Philippines, Japan, and China, especially from July to October. Overall, there were 37 tropical depressions declared officially or unofficially, of which 26 became named storms, including 15 typhoons (hurricanes). The season began early: Tapah developed on January 10 east of the Philippines. Two months later, Typhoon Mitag became the first recorded super typhoon in March. In June, Typhoon Chataan dropped heavy rainfall in the Federated States of Micronesia, killing 48 people and becoming the deadliest natural disaster in the state of Chuuk. Chataan later left heavy damage in Guam before striking Japan. In August, Typhoon Rusa became the deadliest typhoon in South Korea in 43 years, causing 238 deaths and $4.2 billion in damage. Typhoon Higos (pictured) in October was the third-strongest typhoon to strike Tokyo since World War II. Typhoon Pongsona, the last of the season, became one of the costliest storms ($700 million) on record in Guam; it dissipated on December 11. (Full article...)
May 7
The Sinking of the Lusitania is a silent animated short film by American cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay that depicts the 1915 disaster in which a German submarine killed 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. McCay's employer, William Randolph Hearst, who was opposed to sending US troops to fight in World War I, downplayed the tragedy in his newspapers. In 1916 McCay grew tired of drawing anti-war cartoons for Hearst and started working on this propaganda film. He and his assistants spent twenty-two months in their off hours working on the production, using the new cel technology that was more efficient than the rice paper he had used previously. Released in 1918, The Sinking of the Lusitania is the earliest animated documentary and serious, dramatic work of animation to survive. It had little commercial success compared to McCay's earlier films, Little Nemo (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), and his later animation went largely unnoticed. The artist spent the rest of his life making editorial drawings. (Full article...)
May 8
Gary Cooper (1901–1961) was an American film actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style. He was a movie star from the end of the silent film era through the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. Cooper began his career as a film extra and stunt rider and soon established himself as a Western hero in films such as The Virginian (1929). He played the lead in adventure films and dramas such as A Farewell to Arms (1932) and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), and extended his range of performances to include roles in most major film genres. He portrayed champions of the common man in films such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Meet John Doe (1941), Sergeant York (1941), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). In his later years, he delivered award-winning performances in High Noon (1952) and Friendly Persuasion (1956). Cooper received three Academy Awards and appeared on the Motion Picture Herald exhibitors poll of top ten film personalities every year from 1936 to 1958. His screen persona embodied the American folk hero. (Full article...)
May 9
Reg Saunders (1920–1990) was the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army. He came from a military family, his forebears having served in the Boer War and the First World War. Enlisting as a soldier in 1940, he saw action during the Second World War in North Africa, Greece and Crete, before being commissioned as a lieutenant and serving as a platoon commander in New Guinea in 1944 and 1945. His younger brother Harry also joined the Army, and was killed in 1942. After the war, Saunders was demobilised and returned to civilian life. He later served as a company commander with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, during the Korean War, where he fought at the Battle of Kapyong. Saunders left the Army in 1954 and worked in the logging and metal industries, before joining the Office (later the Department) of Aboriginal Affairs as a liaison officer in 1969. In 1971, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his community service. He died in 1990, aged 69. (Full article...)
May 10
The 1980 Zimbabwe women's national field hockey team won the gold medal at that year's Summer Olympics in Moscow in the Soviet Union. The 16 teammates, all from Zimbabwe's white minority, were assembled less than a month before the Olympics, after an American-led boycott reduced the number of teams competing. It was the first time the women's field hockey event had been held at the Olympics. After beating Poland and the Soviet Union and drawing with Czechoslovakia and India, the Zimbabweans secured the gold on the final day with a 4–1 victory over Austria. Their victory was considered a huge upset, particularly considering the short time the team had to prepare. Won at a time of great transition in Zimbabwe (formerly as Rhodesia, the country had been barred from the previous three Olympics, and only in April 1980 had Zimbabwe achieved international recognition of its independence), the gold medal was the nation's first Olympic medal of any colour. The players were dubbed the "Golden Girls" by the Zimbabwean press and were briefly national celebrities. Zimbabwe did not win another Olympic medal until 2004. (Full article...)
May 11
California State Route 57 (SR 57), also known as the Orange Freeway for most of its length, is a north–south state highway in the Greater Los Angeles Area. It connects the interchange of Interstate 5 (I-5) and SR 22 near downtown Orange, locally known as the Orange Crush, to the Glendora Curve interchange with I-210 and SR 210 in Glendora. The highway provides a route across several spurs of the Peninsular Ranges, linking the Los Angeles Basin with the Pomona Valley and San Gabriel Valley. An oiled-dirt predecessor to this road ran through Brea Canyon by the late 1910s; it was paved in concrete in 1923 and added to the state highway system in 1931. The freeway, including the Brea Canyon Freeway segment, was built in stages during the 1950s, becoming SR 57 in the 1964 state highway renumbering. The final portion of the present-day Orange Freeway was not completed until the mid 1970s. The last piece of SR 57 to be added was formerly part of I-210, after SR 210 was extended to San Bernardino in 1998. An unconstructed extension of SR 57 from Santa Ana south to Huntington Beach has been studied as a proposed toll road above the Santa Ana River. (Full article...)
May 12
Batman: Arkham Asylum is a 2009 action-adventure video game based on the DC Comics superhero. Written by veteran Batman comics writer Paul Dini (pictured), it was developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Eidos Interactive in conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles and Microsoft Windows. In the main storyline, Batman's archenemy, the Joker, instigates an elaborate plot to seize control of Arkham Asylum and trap Batman inside with many of his incarcerated foes. Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Arleen Sorkin reprised their roles as Batman, the Joker, and his sidekick Harley Quinn respectively. The game is presented in third-person perspective with a primary focus on Batman's combat and stealth abilities, detective skills, and gadgets that can be used in combat and exploration. The game received critical acclaim—particularly for its narrative—and won several awards, including Best Action Adventure game, Best Game, and Game of the Year from different media outlets. It held the Guinness World Record for "Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever". Arkham Asylum's success launched a series of Batman: Arkham sequels, beginning in October 2011 with Batman: Arkham City. (Full article...)
May 13
Blackrock is a 1997 Australian drama film directed by Steven Vidler and written by Nick Enright. In Blackrock, a fictional beachside working-class suburb, a young surfer witnesses his friends raping a girl. When she is found murdered the next day, he is torn between revealing what he saw and protecting his friends. Filming locations included Stockton, New South Wales, where a girl named Leigh Leigh was murdered in 1989. While the film was never marketed as the story of her death, many viewers incorrectly believed it to be a factual account of the crime. Her family objected to what they saw as a fictionalisation of her murder, and residents of Stockton opposed the decision to shoot scenes there. The film received generally positive critical reviews in Australia, where it was nominated for five AACTA Awards and won two AWGIE Awards, though it received mixed reviews elsewhere. Adapted from Enright's play of the same name, the film stars Laurence Breuls, Simon Lyndon and Linda Cropper, and features the first credited film performance of Heath Ledger. (Full article...)
May 14
The 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (founded May 1944) was a German mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the Nazi Party that served alongside the German armed forces during World War II. Composed of Muslim Albanians with mostly German and ethnic German Yugoslav officers and non-commissioned officers, it was named for medieval Albanian lord George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, who had defended the region of Albania against the Ottoman Empire. The division committed numerous atrocities in predominantly Serb areas, and rounded up Jews in Pristina for deportation to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on 14 May 1944. Its only significant military actions took place during a German anti-Partisan offensive in the German occupied territory of Montenegro in June and July. It was then deployed as a guard force in Kosovo, where it was quickly overrun by the Partisans. Reinforced by German Kriegsmarine (navy) personnel and with less than 500 Albanians remaining in its ranks, it was disbanded on 1 November 1944. Divisional commander SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS August Schmidhuber was later found guilty of war crimes by a Belgrade court and executed in 1947. (Full article...)
May 15
"4 Minutes", by American singer-songwriter Madonna (pictured), was released as the lead single of her eleventh studio album Hard Candy (2008), featuring vocals by American singers Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Madonna her 37th top-ten single and breaking the all-time record previously held by Elvis Presley. It also received positive reviews and topped the charts in twenty-one countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. An uptempo dance-pop song with an urban and hip hop style, "4 Minutes" incorporates Timbaland's characteristic bhangra beats, with brass, foghorns and cowbells. It was performed by Madonna on the promotional tour for Hard Candy and the 2008–09 Sticky & Sweet Tour. The song received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical at the 2009 ceremony. In the accompanying music video, Madonna and Timberlake are running away from a giant black screen that devours everything in its path, including them, in the end. She cited the song as the inspiration for the documentary I Am Because We Are (2008). (Full article...)
May 16
Wilfred Rhodes (1877–1973) was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, he took 127 wickets and scored 2,325 runs. He holds the world records for the most appearances made in first-class cricket (1,110 matches) and for the most wickets taken (4,204). He completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season a record 16 times. Rhodes played for Yorkshire and England into his fifties, and in his final Test in 1930 was, at 52 years and 165 days, the oldest player who has appeared in a Test match. Beginning his career for Yorkshire in 1898 as a slow left arm bowler, Rhodes quickly established a reputation as one of the best slow bowlers in the world. His batting steadily improved until, by the First World War, he was also regarded as one of the leading batsmen in England and had established an effective opening partnership with Jack Hobbs. As a bowler, Rhodes was noted for his great accuracy, variations in flight and, in his early days, sharp spin. Following his retirement from playing cricket, he briefly coached at Harrow School and was given honorary membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1949. (Full article...)
May 17
The two Rivadavia-class battleships were constructed for Argentina as a part of a wider South American naval arms race. To counter Brazil's two Minas Geraes-class dreadnoughts, Argentina began seeking bids for at least two such battleships in 1908. Over the next two years, fifteen shipbuilders from five countries vied for the contracts, complemented by efforts from their respective governments. Argentina's choice in early 1910 of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, based in the United States, shocked the European bidders, but could partly be explained by the American steel trust's ability to produce steel at a lower cost than any other country. Amid increasing tension in Europe that would lead to the First World War, newspapers speculated that the Argentine dreadnoughts would be sold to a European nation. Under diplomatic pressure, the Argentines decided to keep the ships; after numerous delays, they arrived in the country in February and May 1915. The dreadnoughts were modernized in the 1920s, and in the latter half of their life were frequently employed as training ships and diplomatic envoys. Both were sold for scrap in the late 1950s. (Full article...)
Part of the Rivadavia-class battleships and South American dreadnought race featured topics.
May 18
The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner. Boeing Commercial Airplanes designed and built 1,050 of them for 54 customers from 1981 to 2004. The twinjet has a two-crewmember glass cockpit, a conventional tail, a low-drag supercritical wing design, and turbofan engines that allow takeoffs from relatively short runways and at high altitudes. Intended for short and medium routes, variants of the 757 can carry 200 to 295 passengers for a maximum of 3,150 to 4,100 nautical miles (5,830 to 7,590 km). The 757 was designed concurrently with a wide-body twinjet, the 767, and pilots can obtain a common type rating that allows them to operate both aircraft. Passenger 757-200s (the most popular model) have been modified for cargo use; military derivatives include the C-32 transport, VIP carriers, and other multi-purpose aircraft. All 757s are powered by Rolls-Royce RB211 or Pratt & Whitney PW2000 series turbofans. Eastern Air Lines and British Airways were first to place the 757 in commercial service, in 1983. The airliner had recorded eight hull-loss accidents, including seven fatal crashes, as of April 2015. (Full article...)
May 19
The Tetrarch, a British light tank with a 2-pounder gun, was deployed in the Second World War. Vickers-Armstrongs produced over 100 of them, but the tanks had design flaws and most remained in Britain. Twenty were sent to the USSR as part of the Lend-Lease program. In early 1941 one Royal Armoured Corps squadron used in overseas amphibious operations was equipped with Tetrarchs, and in May 1942 a few joined the British force invading Madagascar. During the British airborne landings in Normandy in June 1944, the 6th Airborne Division used around 20 Tetrarchs, but those not lost in accidents proved to be inferior in firepower and armour to the German armoured fighting vehicles. The tanks were removed from direct engagement with German armour, and all were replaced with Cromwell cruiser tanks and M22 Locusts by December. Tetrarchs did not see any further combat, and the last was retired in 1950. There were several variations on the design, including the Alecto self-propelled gun and the Light Tank Mk VIII, but none of these were used in active service with the British Army. (Full article...)
May 20
The Bread-Winners is an 1883 anti-labor novel by John Hay, who was Assistant Secretary to the President under Abraham Lincoln and McKinley's final Secretary of State. Originally published anonymously in installments in The Century Magazine, the book attracted wide interest and provoked considerable speculation over the author's identity. Hay wrote his only novel as a reaction to several strikes that affected him and his business interests in the 1870s and early 1880s. In the main storyline, a wealthy former army captain, Arthur Farnham, organizes Civil War veterans to keep the peace when the Bread-winners, a group of lazy and malcontented workers, call a violent general strike. Hay had left hints as to his identity in the novel, and some guessed right, but he never acknowledged the book as his, and it did not appear with his name on it until after his death in 1905. Hay's hostile view of organized labor was soon seen as outdated, and the book is best remembered for its onetime popularity and controversial nature. (Full article...)
May 21
"City of Angels" is a song by American rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars (pictured), featured on their fourth studio album Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2013). The song's name is a reference to Los Angeles, and the lyrics were influenced by its culture. Written by lead vocalist Jared Leto, who also produced the song with Steve Lillywhite, "City of Angels" is imbued with elements of arena rock and 1980s music; the track has been cited as an example of the album's variety and experimentation. It was generally acclaimed by music critics, who commended the composition, the lyrics, and Leto's vocal performance. The song was released in October 2013 as the third single from the album, reaching number eight on the US Alternative Songs chart. An accompanying music video that features well-known entertainers and colorful personalities sharing their visions about Los Angeles was positively reviewed by critics; it received the Loudwire Music Award for Best Rock Video and was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Thirty Seconds to Mars performed "City of Angels" on their major concert tours from 2013 through 2015. (Full article...)
May 22
Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia, characterized by two pairs of continuously growing incisors, one pair in the upper and one in the lower jaw. About forty percent of all mammal species are rodents, and they are found in vast numbers on all continents except Antarctica. They are the most diversified mammalian order, including mice, rats, squirrels, prairie dogs, porcupines, beavers, guinea pigs, and hamsters, and can be found in a variety of habitats, including manmade environments. There are arboreal, burrowing, and semi-aquatic species. While the largest species, the capybara, can weigh as much as 66 kg (146 lb), many rodents weigh less than 100 g (3.5 oz) and have robust bodies, short limbs and long tails. They use their sharp incisors to gnaw food, defend themselves, and shape their habitat. Most eat seeds or other plant material. Many species live in societies with complex forms of communication. Rodents can be monogamous, polygynous, or promiscuous. The rodent fossil record dates back to the Paleocene on the supercontinent of Laurasia. (Full article...)
May 23
Paul Tibbets (1915–2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, best known as the pilot of the Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. Tibbets enlisted in the army in 1937 and qualified as a pilot the next year. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he flew anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic. In July 1942 he became the deputy group commander of the 97th Bombardment Group, the first such group deployed to the United Kingdom as part of the Eighth Air Force. He flew the lead plane in the first American daylight heavy bomber mission against Occupied Europe on August 17, 1942, and again in the first American raid of more than 100 bombers on October 9. After flying 43 combat missions, he joined the staff of the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa. He returned to the United States in February 1943 to help with the development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. In September 1944, he was appointed the commander of the 509th Composite Group, which conducted the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, he was involved in the development of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet. He left the Air Force in 1966, working for Executive Jet Aviation until 1987. (Full article...)
May 24
Hurricane Lenny was the second-strongest November Atlantic hurricane on record and the record-breaking fifth Category 4 hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed on November 13 in the western Caribbean Sea and maintained an unprecedented west-to-east track for its entire duration. It attained hurricane status south of Jamaica and passed south of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, attaining peak winds of 155 mph (250 km/h) about 21 mi (34 km) south of Saint Croix in the US Virgin Islands. It gradually weakened while moving through the Leeward Islands, dissipating on November 23 over the open Atlantic Ocean. Damage in the US territories totaled about $330 million, with widespread flooding and erosion in Saint Croix. Lenny killed two people in northern Colombia, three in Saint Martin and one in Antigua and Barbuda, where it also contaminated the local water supply. Significant storm damage occurred as far south as Grenada, where high surf isolated towns from the capital city. (Full article...)
May 25
The Texas Revolution (1835–36) began when colonists in the Mexican province of Texas rebelled after President Santa Anna overturned the Mexican constitution, dismissing state legislatures and militias and centralizing the government. He stepped down from the presidency to lead Mexican troops in quashing the revolt. Sam Houston was named commander of the Texian Army and sent Jim Bowie to destroy the Alamo to keep it out of Mexican hands. Bowie and William B. Travis chose instead to lead the Alamo defenders in what became the most famous battle of Texas history. Three weeks later, the Mexican army executed 400 Texians at the Goliad massacre, then marched east as terrified civilians fled. The Texian army moved in the same direction, giving the impression that they were running away. Under a false sense of complacency, Santa Anna was asleep and his army was on stand-down on April 21, 1836, when shouts of "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!" pierced the air as Texians overran them, winning the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in 18 minutes (monument pictured). Santa Anna fled on horseback, but was captured the next day and traded for the full retreat of the Mexican army and a cessation of hostilities. Intermittent conflicts continued until 1845, when Texas was willingly annexed into the United States, leading to the Mexican–American War. (Full article...)
May 26
Anachronox is a third-person role-playing video game produced by Tom Hall (pictured) and the Dallas Ion Storm games studio. It was released worldwide in June 2001 for Microsoft Windows. The turn-based game follows a down-and-out private investigator looking for work in the slums of planet Anachronox; he travels to other planets, collects an unlikely group of friends, and unravels a mystery that threatens the fate of the universe. The game's design and unconventional humor were influenced by cyberpunk and film noir; inspirations include the video game Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy series, animator Chuck Jones, and the novel Ender's Game. The game was built with a heavily modified version of the Quake II engine, rewritten chiefly to allow a wider color palette, emotive animations and facial expressions, and better particle, lighting, and camera effects. Originally planned for a 1998 release, Anachronox's development was long and difficult. Critics enjoyed the game and awarded it high marks for its design and story, but Ion Storm closed down one month after the game's release. In 2003, Anachronox cinematic director Jake Hughes spliced together gameplay footage and cutscenes to create a feature-length award-winning film. (Full article...)
May 27
Menominee Tribe v. United States, 391 U.S. 404 (1968), was a case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Menominee Indian Tribe would keep their historical hunting and fishing rights even after the federal government ceased to recognize the tribe. It was a landmark decision in Native American case law. In the mid-19th century, the tribe, led by Menominee Nation Chief Oshkosh (pictured), had entered into treaties with the United States which did not specifically state that they retained hunting and fishing rights. In 1961, Congress terminated the tribe's federal recognition, and two years later, three members of the tribe were charged with violating Wisconsin's hunting laws on former reservation land. The Indians were acquitted, but when the state appealed, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the tribe no longer had hunting and fishing rights due to the termination action. The tribe sued the United States in the U.S. Court of Claims, which ruled that tribal members retained those rights. Opposite rulings by the state and federal courts brought the issue to the Supreme Court, which ruled in the tribe's favor. (Full article...)
May 28
The common starling is a medium-sized perching bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm (8 in) long and has glossy black plumage, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts, with an unmusical but varied song. The starling has about a dozen subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and western Asia, and it has been introduced elsewhere. This bird is resident in southern and western Europe and southwestern Asia, while northeastern populations migrate south and west in winter. The starling builds an untidy nest in a natural or artificial cavity in which four or five glossy, pale blue eggs are laid. These take two weeks to hatch and the young remain in the nest for another three weeks. The species is omnivorous, taking a wide range of invertebrates, as well as seeds and fruit. The starling's gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the medieval Welsh Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare. (Full article...)
May 29
"Speechless" is a song by the American recording artist Michael Jackson (pictured), included on his tenth studio album, Invincible (2001). It was released in South Korea as the lead single from the album, and elsewhere as a promotional single. The singer was inspired to write the ballad after a water balloon fight with children in Germany. Jackson collaborated on the production with musicians such as Jeremy Lubbock, Brad Buxer, Novi Novoq, Stuart Bradley and Bruce Swedien. Andraé Crouch and his gospel choir provided backing vocals. Executives at Jackson's record label, Epic Records, responded positively to the track when given a preview several months before Invincible's release. The song received mixed reviews from music critics; commentary focused on its a cappellas and lyrics. A clip of Jackson singing "Speechless" was included in the 2009 documentary-concert film Michael Jackson's This Is It. (Full article...)
May 30
George Headley (1909–1983) was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before the Second World War. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for West Indies and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, he also represented Jamaica and played professionally in England. Headley was born in Panama but raised in Jamaica where he quickly established a cricketing reputation as a batsman. West Indies had a weak cricket team through most of Headley's career; as their one world-class player, he carried a heavy responsibility, and they depended on his batting. He batted at number three, scoring 2,190 runs in Tests at an average of 60.83, and 9,921 runs in all first-class matches at an average of 69.86. He was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1934. Following his tour of England in 1933, Headley signed as a professional at Haslingden in the Lancashire League, where he played until the outbreak of war in 1939 interrupted his career. Although he returned to Tests in 1948 he was hampered by injuries. Even so, he was chosen as West Indies captain in 1948 against England, the first black player to be appointed to the position. (Full article...)
May 31
O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad (O holy bath of Spirit and water), BWV 165, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Weimar for Trinity Sunday and led the first performance on 16 June 1715. It was one in a series of cantatas he had been writing since his promotion to concertmaster at the Weimar court in the ducal palace, one cantata each month over the previous year. The libretto by the court poet Salomo Franck is based on the day's prescribed gospel reading about the meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus (pictured in a contemporary painting). Close in content to the gospel, the text connects the concept of the Trinity to baptism. The music is structured in six movements, alternating arias and recitatives, and scored for a small ensemble of four vocal parts, strings and continuo. The closing chorale is the fifth stanza of a hymn by Ludwig Helmbold which mentions scripture, baptism and the Eucharist. The text, full of Baroque imagery, reads like a sermon set to music, especially in the two recitatives for the bass voice, which are rich in musical contrasts. Bach probably led a second performance on the Trinity Sunday concluding his first year as Cantor at St. Thomas in Leipzig on 4 June 1724. (Full article...)