Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 June 7

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From today's featured article

The wolf (Canis lupus) is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. It is the largest extant member of Canidae, males averaging 40 kg (88 lb) and females 37 kg (82 lb). Wolves measure 105–160 cm (41–63 in) in length and 80–85 cm (31–33 in) at shoulder height. Compared to coyotes and jackals, wolves have more pointed ears and muzzles, as well as shorter torsos and longer tails. The fur of a wolf is usually mottled white, brown, gray, and black. Up to 38 subspecies have been recognized, including the domestic dog. Wolves live in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair accompanied by their offspring. Fights over territory are among the principal causes of mortality. The wolf is mainly a carnivore and feeds primarily on large wild hooved mammals, though it also eats smaller animals, livestock, carrion, and garbage. Most recorded wolf attacks on people have been attributed to rabies. They have been both respected and feared in human societies. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Reginald Heber

... that "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty", written by future Anglican bishop Reginald Heber (depicted), was first published at a time when hymn singing was prohibited in Church of England liturgy?
... that J. Hartwell Harrison was the first surgeon to subject a patient to a major operation that was not for their own benefit?
... that during the 1990s, some British Army infantry battalions suffered such severe manpower shortages that they had to be reinforced by companies of Gurkhas?
... that production on the first season of The House of Flowers was shut down twice—after an earthquake injured one of the leads, and when a store objected to homosexual content being filmed there?
... that the San Antonio Municipal Archives contain the architectural plans for the Alamo?
... that sportswriter Zotique Lespérance was not invited to his own induction ceremony by the Hockey Hall of Fame because they had been misinformed that he had died?
... that D'Angelo spent several hours playtesting Red Dead Redemption 2 before being invited to write the song "Unshaken" for its original soundtrack?
... that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Polish police requested criminals to stop all criminal activities until further notice?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic

Crew Dragon launch

SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 make their first crewed launch (pictured) for NASA.
Protests and riots break out across the United States following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Costa Rica becomes the first Central American country to legalise same-sex marriage.
A Pakistan International Airlines passenger aircraft crashes in Karachi, killing ninety-seven people.

On this day

June 7: Journalist's Day in Argentina (1810)

Carrie Nation

1788 – Citizens of Grenoble threw roof tiles onto royal soldiers, an event sometimes recognised as the beginning of the French Revolution.
1832 – The Reform Act, which is widely credited with launching modern democracy in the United Kingdom, received royal assent.
1900 – American temperance activist Carrie Nation (pictured) entered a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas, and destroyed its stock of alcoholic beverages with rocks.
1981 – The Israeli Air Force attacked and disabled the Osirak nuclear reactor, under the assumption that it was about to start producing plutonium to further an Iraqi nuclear-weapons program.
1998 – Three white supremacists murdered James Byrd Jr., an African American, by chaining him behind a pickup truck and dragging him along an asphalt road in Jasper, Texas.

Pope Vigilius (d. 555)
Amelia Edwards (b. 1831)
Mike Pence (b. 1959)

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Today's featured picture

Echo and Narcissus is an oil-on-canvas painting by English painter John William Waterhouse, dating from 1903, illustrating the myth of Echo and Narcissus from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The nymph Echo was unable to speak except to repeat the last sentence she had heard. She became infatuated with Narcissus, but he spurned her, instead falling in love with his own reflection in a pool. He continued to gaze at his reflection until he faded away, and a narcissus flower grew on the spot where he died. Echo also pined away, until only her voice remained. Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1903, the painting was purchased by the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, where it now hangs.

Painting credit: John William Waterhouse

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