Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 December 26

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From today's featured article

Tyler Fredrickson kicked the field goal that gave California the victory in the 2003 Insight Bowl

The 2003 Insight Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the California Bears on December 26, 2003. The game was the final contest of the 2003 season for both teams, in which Virginia Tech had come third in the Big East Conference, while California had tied for third place in the Pacific-10 Conference. From the beginning of the game, it was a quick-paced, high-scoring contest. In the first quarter, Virginia Tech jumped out to a 21–7 lead. In the second quarter, California scored two touchdowns but Tech took a 28–21 lead into halftime. Bolstered by an improved defensive effort, California scored 21 unanswered points to take a 42–28 lead into the fourth quarter. Tech evened the score at 49–49 after an 80-yard touchdown drive that took less than two minutes and a punt return by DeAngelo Hall for a touchdown. The post-score Tech kickoff went out of bounds, and with time running out, California began to drive for a game-winning score. The Bears needed just seven plays to advance 47 yards and set up a field goal attempt. As time expired, kicker Tyler Fredrickson (pictured) kicked a 35-yard field goal to give California a 52–49 victory. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that mazurek cakes (pictured) are traditionally served in Poland during Easter and Christmas?
... that Les cadeaux de Noël, an opera in one act by Xavier Leroux, premiered on Christmas Day at the Opéra-Comique during World War I?
... that Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is often called the Christmas Kalanchoe due to its flamboyant and colourful blooms in winter?
... that Merry Christmas to You was described by Grace S. Aspinwall of CCM Magazine as being a "fun, entertaining ensemble of Christmas music"?
... that William Cooke gave Selwyn College "five thousand rare, valuable, and useful patristic, liturgical, and other works"?
... that Die Singphoniker recorded Schubert's complete part songs and Singphonic Christmas, European Christmas carols?
... that The X Factor winner Sam Bailey, who got the 2013 UK Christmas number one with a cover version of "Skyscraper", has the nickname "screwbo", a portmanteau of "screw" and "SuBo"?

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In the news

Pioneering British computer scientist and code breaker Alan Turing, convicted of gross indecency for homosexual activity in 1952, is granted a posthumous royal pardon.
After the pardoning of businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an amnesty law in Russia leads to the release of thousands of prisoners, including two members of Pussy Riot (Nadezhda Tolokonnikova pictured), and the dropping of charges against participants in a Greenpeace protest.
In handball, the World Women's Championship concludes with Brazil defeating Serbia in the final.
Amidst fears of civil war, the South Sudan Liberation Army captures Bor.
ESA's Gaia space observatory is launched to compile a catalogue of astronomical objects.

Recent deaths: Mikhail Kalashnikov – David Coleman – Ronnie Biggs

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On this day...

December 26: Boxing Day in Commonwealth countries; St. Stephen's Day (Western Christianity); Twelve Holy Days begin (Esoteric Christianity); Kwanzaa begins in Canada and the United States

1825 – Imperial Russian Army officers led about 3,000 soldiers in a protest against Nicholas I's assumption of the throne after his elder brother Constantine removed himself from the line of succession.
1871 – Thespis, the first comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, made its debut at the Gaiety Theatre, London, UK.
1898 – At the French Academy of Sciences, physicists Pierre and Marie Curie (both pictured) announced the discovery of a new element, naming it radium.
1996 – Six-year-old American beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado, a murder that generated extensive coverage from the American media.

More anniversaries: December 25 – December 26 – December 27

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It is now December 26, 2013 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

Space Shuttle Endeavour in a photograph taken from the International Space Station, in which the shuttle appears to straddle the stratosphere and mesosphere. During this mission, STS-130, the shuttle's primary payloads were the Tranquility module and the Cupola, a robotic control station which provides a 360-degree view around the station.

Photo: NASA/Crew of Expedition 22

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