Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 October 2

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From today's featured article

Male vermilion flycatcher

The vermilion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus obscurus) is a tyrant flycatcher found in South America and southern North America. The male (pictured) has a bright red crown and underparts, and brownish wings and tail; females lack the red coloration. The male's chirpy song is used in establishing a territory in riparian or semi-open habitat. Its diet of insects are caught in flight. Although monogamous, females may lay their eggs in another pair's nest, and extra-pair copulation occurs. Females build cup nests and are fed by the male while they incubate the two to three speckled whitish eggs; two broods are laid in a season. Both parents feed the chicks, which are ready to fledge after fifteen days. A long molt begins in summer. The species was first described from specimens caught by Charles Darwin. The taxonomy of the genus was revised in 2016, creating several new species from this flycatcher's former subspecies. Populations have declined because of habitat loss, although numbers remain in the millions. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Cross of Camargue

... that both the Cross of Camargue (example pictured) and the Anchored Cross use a cross and anchor to represent a relationship to the sea?
... that a former department store building in New York City was converted into a graduate school, publisher's offices, and research library?
... that when Annette Jahns portrayed Bettina von Arnim in an opera by Friedrich Schenker, the role required her to scream as well as sing?
... that unauthorized persons are not allowed to go to Hooks Island?
... that The Lodger, released in 1913, was the first novelization of the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper?
... that President Franklin D. Roosevelt regarded Senator Huey Long of Louisiana as "one of the two most dangerous men in America"?
... that according to the superseded Catholic doctrine that "error has no rights", non-Catholics did not deserve civil or political rights?
... that traditional English singer Pop Maynard was also captain of a world-champion marbles team?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Portal

Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah

Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (pictured) becomes Emir of Kuwait after the death of his half-brother, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, at the age of 91.
In ice hockey, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Dallas Stars to win the Stanley Cup.
Azerbaijani and Armenian armed forces clash in Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting the introduction of martial law in both countries and mobilization in Armenia.

On this day

October 2: International Day of Non-Violence; Gandhi Jayanti in India

John Logie Baird

1263 – Scottish–Norwegian War: The armies of Norway and Scotland fought the Battle of Largs, an inconclusive engagement near the present-day town of Largs in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
1879 – Qing China signed the Treaty of Livadia with the Russian Empire, but the terms were so unfavorable to China that their negotiator, Chonghou, was later sentenced to death.
1925 – Scottish inventor John Logie Baird (pictured) successfully transmitted the first television picture with a greyscale image.
2007 – South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun walked across the Military Demarcation Line on his way to the second inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Parviz Mirza (b. 1589)
Sarah Biffen (d. 1850)
Glenn Anderson (b. 1960)

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From today's featured list

First Minneapolis Central Library, c. 1900–1906

There are 41 branches of the Hennepin County Library, which serves Hennepin County, Minnesota. The branches are spread across 24 cities and towns. Fifteen of the libraries are located in Hennepin County's largest city, Minneapolis, and were originally part of the Minneapolis Public Library, which was founded in 1885 to serve the city. Hennepin County established a library service of its own in 1922 and took control of some of the county's smaller towns' libraries. Hennepin County and Minneapolis first discussed the idea of merging their systems in 1967, but the merger debate ended in 1974. In 2007, the merger was revisited and the Minneapolis Public Library officially joined the Hennepin County Library system at the beginning of 2008, creating the current 41-branch system. Four branches were founded as Carnegie libraries. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Lake Palčje is an intermittent lake in a karst basin in the Inner Carniola region of Slovenia, north of the settlement of Palčje. It is the largest among the seasonal lakes of Pivka, with an average maximum water area of around 1 km² (0.39 sq mi). The lake bed is at groundwater level, so the amount of water depends on current hydrological conditions. Usually, the lake fills after the heavy rains in late autumn and again in spring, with water present for around three months every year. This photograph shows Lake Palčje filled in early winter.

See also: Lake Palčje drained in autumn

Photograph credit: Jernej Polajnar

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