Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 March 9

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From today's featured article

Armillaria gallica is a species of honey mushroom in the family Physalacriaceae. It is a common and ecologically important wood-decay fungus that can feed on dead organic material in soil, or live as an opportunistic parasite in weakened tree hosts to cause root or butt rot. It is found in temperate regions of Asia, North America, and Europe. The yellow-brown mushrooms, covered with small scales, can grow to around 10 cm (4 in) in diameter. On the underside of the caps are gills that are white to creamy or pale orange. The fungus has been the subject of considerable scientific research into its role as a plant pathogen, its ability to bioluminesce, its unusual life cycle, and its ability to form large and long-lived colonies. A 1,500-year-old colony was discovered in the early 1990s in a Michigan forest, reported to cover an area of 15 hectares (37 acres) and weigh at least 9,500 kilograms (21,000 lb); as a tourist attraction called the "humungous fungus", it inspires an annual mushroom-themed festival in Crystal Falls. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Rockefeller Center construction progress in 1933

... that in preparation for the construction of Rockefeller Center (pictured) in Midtown Manhattan, 4,000 tenants were evicted from 228 properties?
... that the founder of Banks Beer, Peter D'Aguiar, was also a prominent Guyanese politician?
... that Chi Pu's song "Từ hôm nay (Feel Like Ooh)" received an overwhelmingly negative reception, with some reviewers calling it "disastrous"?
... that the Museum of Geometric and MADI Art in Dallas is the only museum in North America dedicated to the Madí art movement?
... that Jai Tirath Dahiya won his seat in the 2014 Haryana Legislative Assembly election by a margin of three votes?
... that between 1992 and 2016, Scottish football club Aberdeen did not win a single match at Ibrox Stadium, home of their rivals Rangers F.C., in 41 attempts?
... that Hanging Sword Alley was also known as "Blood Bowl Alley" after its infamous night life?
... that David Meade's prediction of a hidden planet named Nibiru hitting Earth on September 23, 2017, was based on what he says are coded messages hidden in the Giza Pyramids in Egypt?

In the news

USS Lexington in 1941

The wreck of USS Lexington (pictured) is discovered in the Coral Sea.
A coalition of centre-right parties wins a plurality in the Italian general election.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are poisoned by a nerve agent in Salisbury, England.
The Shape of Water wins four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro, at the Academy Awards.
At least 25 people die in a fire at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Baku, Azerbaijan.

On this day...

March 9

"The Oak of the Golden Dream"

1009 – The first known record of the name of Lithuania appeared in an entry in the annals of the Quedlinburg Abbey in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
1842 – Francisco Lopez woke from a nap under a tree (pictured) at Rancho San Francisco and made the first documented discovery of gold in California.
1910 – A massive seventeen-month-long strike action, which at its peak involved 15,000 coal miners represented by the United Mine Workers across 65 mines, began in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
1925 – The Royal Air Force began a bombardment and strafing campaign against the mountain strongholds of Mahsud tribesmen in South Waziristan.
1956 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, Soviet military troops suppressed mass demonstrations against Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization policy.

Friederike Caroline Neuber (b. 1697) · Anna Laetitia Barbauld (d. 1825) · Jane Joseph (d. 1929)

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From today's featured list

English author Georgette Heyer produced works in a variety of genres; in total she published 32 novels in the romance genre, 6 historical novels, 4 contemporary novels, and 12 in the detective fiction genre. She was known for her historical romance novels set in the Regency and Georgian eras. Born in Wimbledon, London, the nineteen-year-old Heyer published her first novel, The Black Moth, in 1921 from a story she had written for her hemophiliac younger brother Boris. The Georgian novel, which featured an earl who turns to outlawry in the 18th century, set the template for many of her future stories – romance, a historical setting, characters from the nobility, and a "saturnine" male lead. Heyer's fame stemmed mainly from her Regency novels, which made her a household name. The first, Regency Buck, became a best-seller when it was published in 1935. Heyer's romance novels sold consistently well and had been translated into more than 10 languages by the time of her death. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Louis Meijer (1809–1866), a Dutch painter, etcher, lithographer, and draftsman, as depicted in an 1838 self-portrait. Meijer, who studied under Pieter Westenberg and Jan Willem Pieneman, is best remembered for his seascapes.

Painting: Louis Meijer

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