Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 November 13

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From today's featured article

Osmium crystals

Heavy metals are metals with relatively high densities, atomic weights, or atomic numbers, depending on the context. They are usually the denser metals in metallurgy, or the metals with higher atomic numbers in physics, whereas chemists distinguish heavy metals by their chemical behaviour. Heavy metals tend to be less chemically reactive than light metals such as sodium, magnesium, and aluminium. The earliest known metals are heavy metals, including common metals such as iron, copper, and tin, and precious metals such as silver, gold, and platinum. Less familiar metals such as gallium, hafnium, and thallium are also heavy metals, as are the essential nutrients iron, cobalt, and zinc. Some are toxic in larger amounts or certain forms (silver and indium, for example); others, like cadmium, mercury, and lead, are highly poisonous. Sources of heavy metal poisoning may include mining and industrial waste, agricultural runoff, occupational exposure, paints and treated timber. Heavy metals are relatively scarce in the Earth's crust, but are present in many manufactured products. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Todd McKenney and Nancye Hayes

... that Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, starring Todd McKenney (pictured waltzing with Nancye Hayes) in his first non-musical role, is the "most successful" play in the Ensemble Theatre's 58-year history?
... that seeking to challenge both Fatah and Hamas, five left-wing factions united to jointly contest the 2016 Palestinian local elections, which have since been postponed?
... that the auction in 1973 of 50 pop art works from the collection of Robert Scull was viewed by the art establishment as the "nouveaux riches cashing in"?
... that the Güney Waterfall, a natural monument, was reestablished 50 m (160 ft) to one side after a landslide swept away its original location?
... that the setting of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is heavily based on the city of Miami?
... that Harry Norwitch served five terms on Philadelphia's City Council but quit his race for re-election in 1967, calling the Democratic party machine "self-serving"?
... that the closest relative of the Caribbean sea slug Pleurobranchus areolatus is Pleurobranchus varians from the central Pacific?
... that "eloquent" Holbrook, "popular" Humble, ex-Congregationalist Miller, and Pilling who feared "plottings", were all vicars of St Mark's, Huddersfield, England?

In the news

Leonard Cohen

Canadian singer, songwriter, and poet Leonard Cohen (pictured) dies at the age of 82.
A tram derails on the Tramlink in Croydon, London, killing seven people and injuring more than fifty others.
Donald Trump wins the United States presidential election, while Republicans retain control of the House and the Senate.
India de-monetises 500- and 1000-rupee bank notes to fight black money issues.
In baseball, the Chicago Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians to win the World Series for the first time since 1908.

On this day...

November 13: Feast day of Saint John Chrysostom (Christianity)

Æthelred II of England

1002 – King Æthelred II (pictured) ordered the massacre of all Danes in England.
1841 – Scottish surgeon James Braid observed a demonstration of animal magnetism, which inspired him to study the subject he eventually called hypnotism.
1927 – The Holland Tunnel, connecting New York City's Manhattan with Jersey City, New Jersey, under the Hudson River, opened.
1966 – The Israeli military conducted a large cross-border assault on the Jordanian-controlled West Bank village of Samu in response to an al-Fatah land mine incident two days earlier near the West Bank border.
1982 – South Korean boxer Kim Duk-koo suffered fatal brain injuries during a match with American Ray Mancini near Las Vegas' Caesars Palace, leading to significant rule changes in the sport.

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Today's featured picture

Aiding a Comrade, an oil painting on canvas completed by Frederic Remington (1861–1909) in 1890, the year of his first solo exhibition. Born in Canton, New York, Remington took up drawing soldiers and cowboys at a young age. After making his first journey west, to Montana and Kansas, Remington used his experiences to publish his first work. Over the years Remington was a painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer, specializing in depictions of the Old American West, specifically images of cowboys, American Indians, and the U.S. Cavalry.

Painting: Frederic Remington

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