Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 January 3

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From today's featured article

Oliver Bosbyshell (1839–1921) was Superintendent of the United States Mint at Philadelphia from 1889 to 1894. He also claimed to have been the first Union soldier wounded by enemy action in the Civil War, stating that he received a bruise on the forehead from an object thrown by a Confederate sympathizer while his unit was marching through Baltimore in April 1861. After briefly working on the railroad and then studying law, Bosbyshell enlisted in the Union cause on the outbreak of war. He joined the 48th Pennsylvania, remaining in that regiment for three years. He saw action in such battles as Second Bull Run and Antietam. He rose to the rank of major and led his regiment, but was mustered out upon the expiration of his term of service in October 1864. He was appointed to a post at the Philadelphia Mint in 1869, and became chief coiner in 1876 and superintendent in 1889, serving for four years. One of Bosbyshell's underlings at the mint stole gold bars and Bosbyshell was held responsible for the loss by virtue of his office. He was absolved of this liability by act of Congress in 1899. In his later years, he was an officer of an insurance company; he died in 1921. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the subject of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's painting Madame Clémentine Valensi Stora (L'Algérienne) (pictured) described it as "horrible"?
... that Apollo 14 astronaut Ed Mitchell told a group of congressmen that aliens exist, at an event organised by the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence?
... that the ring-tailed ground squirrel is more dainty and agile than most ground squirrels?
... that Sri Lankan militant leader Uma Maheswaran was involved in the 1988 Maldives coup?
... that the 2014 Quick Lane Bowl was the first college football bowl game appearance by the University of North Carolina in the state of Michigan?
... that Arthur Kober set his 1937 play Having Wonderful Time in a Jewish Catskills resort, but the film adaptation sanitized the ethnic humor?
... that in 2012, Mersea Island declared a mock independence from the rest of the United Kingdom for a day?

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In the news

Lithuania becomes the 19th member of the Eurozone.
Authorities confirm the discovery of debris and bodies from Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 (aircraft pictured), which crashed en route to Singapore with 162 people on board.
Italian ferry Norman Atlantic catches fire in the Adriatic Sea with 466 passengers and crew on board, killing at least 11 people.
A militant attack on tribal people and subsequent retaliations in Assam, India, result in at least 85 deaths.
Beji Caid Essebsi wins the Tunisian presidential election.
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III successfully completes its first flight, carrying the crew vehicle demonstrator CARE.

Ongoing: Southeast Asian floods – Ebola outbreak – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Mario Cuomo – Luise Rainer – Tomaž Šalamun

On this day...

January 3

1848 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts (pictured) began his term as the first President of Liberia.
1888 – The 36 in (91 cm) refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory near San Jose, California, at the time the largest in the world, was used for the first time.
1919 – Emir Faisal of Iraq signed an agreement with Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann on the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East.
1949 – The first Central Bank of the Philippines was formally inaugurated with Miguel Cuaderno, Sr. as the first governor.
1976 – The multilateral International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, part of the International Bill of Human Rights, came into effect.

More anniversaries: January 2 – January 3 – January 4

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It is now January 3, 2015 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

A female Anthocharis cardamines, a species of butterfly in the family Pieridae. Found through Europe and into Asia, this butterfly prefers damp grassy areas.

Photograph: Michael Apel

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