Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 September 18

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Today's featured article
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. National Monument and National Preserve in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho, at an average elevation of 5,900 feet (1,800 m) above sea level. The protected area features one of the best-preserved flood basalt areas in the continental United States. The Monument was established on May 2, 1924. In November 2000, a presidential proclamation by President Clinton greatly expanded the Monument area. The National Park Service portions of the expanded Monument were designated as a National Preserve in August 2002. The Monument and Preserve encompass three major lava fields and about 400 square miles (1,000 km²) of sagebrush steppe grasslands. All three lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho, with some of the best examples of open rift cracks in the world, including the deepest known on Earth at 800 feet (240 m). (more...) Recently featured: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Chrisye – Ray Farquharson Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Pleuni Touw (pictured) had the first nude scene in Dutch television on 1974's The Hidden Force? ... that Stewart Iron Works was once the U.S.'s largest supplier of cemetery fences and gates? ... that Canadian wheelchair basketball player Patrick Anderson retired in 2008 to become a musician, but returned to win his third Paralympic gold medal at London 2012? ... that an independent Gibraltar Port Authority was formed three hundred years after Queen Anne granted Free Port status to Gibraltar? ... that Leopold Loeffler, who worked on commissions for the court of Franz Joseph, became the professor at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków on the invitation of national painter Jan Matejko? ... that one television critic was "freaked out" by the lack of swearing in Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course? ... that bassoonist and composer Victor Bruns, who played at the Leningrad Opera and with the Staatskapelle Berlin, composed six ballets and four bassoon concertos? ... that the fruits of the Lecythis ampla tree resemble little wooden pots with lids? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Attacks on diplomatic missions and widescale protests occur following the release of a short film critical of Islam. British Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured) apologises after an independent panel on the 1989 Hillsborough disaster finds that negligent police and emergency services manipulated evidence to blame the victims. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy gains a plurality in the Dutch general election. Hundreds of thousands of people in Barcelona take to the streets demanding independence for Catalonia. More than 300 people are killed in two garment factory fires in Pakistan. Syrian civil war – Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
September 18: National Day in Chile 14 – Tiberius (bust pictured), one of Rome's greatest generals, succeeded his stepfather Augustus as Roman emperor. 1850 – The United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which declared that all runaway slaves be brought back to their masters. 1879 – The Blackpool Illuminations in the English seaside town of Blackpool, billed as "the greatest free light show on earth", were switched on for the first time. 1895 – Daniel David Palmer gave the first chiropractic adjustment to deaf janitor Harvey Lillard. 1939 – The Nazi propaganda radio programme Germany Calling, with a host nicknamed "Lord Haw-Haw", began broadcasting to audiences in the United Kingdom and the United States. 1947 – The National Security Act came into effect, establishing the United States Air Force as a separate branch of the U.S. military, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency. More anniversaries: September 17 – September 18 – September 19 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now September 18, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

The term African elephant refers to elephants of the genus Loxodonta. Shown here is the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), one of two extant species and the largest living terrestrial animal, with males standing 3.2–4.0 m (10–13 ft) tall at the shoulder and weighing 4,700–6,048 kg (10,000–13,330 lb).

Photo: Ikiwaner

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