Wikipedia:Today's featured list/December 2021
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December 3
The 2nd Division, a division of infantry of the British Army, has numerous orders of battle, which can provide information on the strength of that formation and the equipment used. The 2nd Infantry Division was formed numerous times over a 203-year period. Several formations bore the name, the "2nd Division", from 1809 through to the end of the 19th century. The historian Everard Wyrall, the compiler of the division's First World War official history, only included those formations that fought in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, and the Second Boer War as being linked with the division that was created in the 20th century and fought in the First World War. That modern formation was created in 1902 and would go to further serve in the Second World War. The first 2nd Division that was formed was a mere 3,900 men strong and did not include supporting weapons such as artillery. In comparison, the 2nd Infantry Division, from the Second World War period, was over 18,000 men strong and supported by 72 artillery pieces and numerous other support weapons. (Full list...)
December 6
The 2003–04 South Pacific cyclone season was a below-average season with three tropical cyclones occurring within the South Pacific to the east of 160°E. The 2003–04 season officially ran from November 1, 2003, to April 30, 2004, with the first disturbance of the season forming on December 4 and the last disturbance dissipating on April 23. During the season at least 16 people were killed from tropical disturbances while overall damage was estimated at $218 million (2004 USD; $299 million 2021 USD). The most damaging tropical disturbance was Cyclone Heta (pictured), which caused at least $211 million (2004 USD; $289 million 2021 USD) in damage to six different countries and left three dead. The deadliest tropical disturbance of the season was Tropical Depression 10F, which was responsible for eleven deaths and caused $2.74 million (2004 USD; $3.75 million 2021 USD) in damage. (Full list...)
December 10
Former cricketer Graham Gooch scored centuries (100 or more runs in a single innings) in Test and One Day International (ODI) matches on twenty and eight occasions respectively, in an international career spanning nearly two decades for England. He is one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation; through a first-class career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time with 67,057. Gooch is one of 25 players in history to have scored over 100 first-class centuries. He scored his first Test century with 123 against the West Indies at Lord's in June 1980. Gooch's highest Test score is 333, which he made in the first innings against India in 1990. His first ODI century came in August 1980. Scoring 108, and making an opening partnership of 154 with Geoffrey Boycott, Gooch's innings led England to a 47-run victory over Australia at Edgbaston. (Full list...)
December 13
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The president of the Indian National Congress is the highest command of the Indian National Congress (INC), one of the principal political parties in India. Constitutionally, the president is elected by an electoral college composed of members drawn from the Pradesh Congress Committees and members of the All India Congress Committee. After the party's foundation in December 1885, Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee became its first president. From 1885 to 1933, the presidency had a term of one year only. From 1933 onwards, there was no such fixed term for the president. A total of 61 people have served as the president of the INC since its formation. Sonia Gandhi (pictured) is the longest-serving president of the party, having held the office for more than twenty years, from 1998 to 2017 and since 2019. (Full list...)
December 17
The Philo T. Farnsworth Award is a non-competitive award presented as part of the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards to "an agency, company or institution whose contributions over time have significantly impacted television technology and engineering". Named for Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the first fully working all-electronic television system and receiver, the winner is selected by a jury of television engineers from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Engineering Emmy Awards Committee who consider "all engineering developments which have proven their efficacy during the awards year and determines which, if any, merit recognition with an Engineering Emmy statuette". The award was first presented at the 55th Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony in September 2003. The motion picture equipment company Panavision was selected as the inaugural recipient for its work in developing "specialty camera items, cranes and dollies, video assists, 35 mm optics, cameras, lighting, trucks and grips". Since then, another 15 agencies, companies and institutions have received the award; none have won more than once. (Full list...)
December 20
Uranus, the seventh planet of the Solar System, has 27 known moons, most of which are named after characters that appear in, or are mentioned in, the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Uranus's moons are divided into three groups: thirteen inner moons, five major moons, and nine irregular moons. The inner and major moons all have prograde orbits, while orbits of the irregulars are mostly retrograde. The inner moons are small dark bodies that share common properties and origins with Uranus's rings. The five major moons are ellipsoidal, indicating that they reached hydrostatic equilibrium at some point in their past (and may still be in equilibrium), and four of them show signs of internally driven processes such as canyon formation and volcanism on their surfaces. William Herschel discovered the first two moons, Titania and Oberon, in 1787. The other three ellipsoidal moons were discovered in 1851 by William Lassell (Ariel and Umbriel) and in 1948 by Gerard Kuiper (Miranda). (Full list...)
December 24
The discography of Simon & Garfunkel, an American singer-songwriter duo, consists of five studio albums, fifteen compilation albums, four live albums, one extended play, twenty-six singles, one soundtrack, and four box sets since 1964. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel first formed a duo in 1957 as Tom & Jerry, before separating and later reforming as Simon & Garfunkel. Their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., was released in 1964. Initially a flop, it was re-released two years later with the new version of the single "The Sound of Silence", which was overdubbed with electric instruments and drums by producer Tom Wilson. Simon & Garfunkel's third album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, was released in 1966, and produced five singles. It peaked at number four in the United States and number thirteen in the United Kingdom, and received a three-time multi-platinum certification. In 1970, they released their fifth and final studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water. It was their most successful to date, peaking at number one in several countries, including the UK and US. The album sold more than twenty-five million copies worldwide. (Full list...)
December 27
The men's individual time trial event at the UCI Road World Championships is the men's world championship for the road bicycle racing discipline of time trial. Introduced in 1994 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body of cycling, the event consists of a time trial covering a distance of approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) over flat or rolling terrain. Riders start separated by two-minute intervals; the one that completes the course in the shortest time is the winner, and is entitled to wear the rainbow jersey (pictured) in time trial events for the forthcoming season. Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara (2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010) and Germany's Tony Martin (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016) have won the most competitions with four each. Australia's Michael Rogers (2003, 2004 and 2005) comes in next in terms of victories, with three wins; Rogers and Martin are the only people to take 3 wins in successive years. The current male champion is Italian rider Filippo Ganna, who won the 2021 event. (Full list...)
December 31
Reptiles are found throughout Michigan, although the only venomous species, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (example pictured), is seen only in the Lower Peninsula. The U.S. state of Michigan is home to two types of lizards, nineteen types of snakes and eleven types of turtles, all members of the class Reptilia. Reptiles are cold-blooded, and so usually pass the cold winters of Michigan in frost-free areas, such as burrows (for snakes and land-dwelling turtles) or the bottoms of lakes and streams (for water-dwelling turtles). Reptile habitats in Michigan are generally split into four regions: the northern and southern Lower Peninsula and the eastern and western Upper Peninsula, with differentiations based on climate, soils, underlying bedrock and glacially derived landforms. Three species of reptiles are considered to be threatened and two species are endangered – these are protected under the Endangered Species Act of the State of Michigan. (Full list...)