Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 April 1

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Igor Judge, a former judge

Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people are drawn to professions that fit their name. The term was first used in the magazine New Scientist in 1994, after its humorous Feedback column mentioned a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman and an article on urology by researchers named Splatt and Weedon. The hypothesis had been suggested by psychologist Carl Jung, citing as an example Sigmund Freud (German for "joy"), who studied pleasure. A few recent empirical studies have indicated that certain professions are disproportionately represented by people with appropriate surnames, though the methods of these studies have been challenged. One explanation for nominative determinism is the theory of implicit egotism, which states that humans have an unconscious preference for things they associate with themselves. An alternative explanation is genetic: an ancestor might have been named Smith or Taylor according to their occupation, and the genes they passed down might correlate to aptitudes for those professions. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Dance of drunks in the fog

... that an 1897 monograph by French artist Alphonse Allais included the print Dance of drunks in the fog (pictured)?
... that caterpillar inflation is a gut-wrenching process?
... that in Portland, Oregon, an outhouse, or john, played a seminal role in public education?
... that Soekarno demanded much of Soekarno, but Soekarno did not listen?
... that Judge Rinder is not a judge?
... that in 1926 a Mennonite tower was built in the German capital of Canada?
... that "sorcery for your vagina" can result in second-degree burns?
... that the Trans-Universal Zombie Church of the Blissful Ringing is the fifth largest religious community in Slovenia?
... that thrust into a difficult situation, horney dicks failed to satisfy?

In the news

Carrie Lam

The United Kingdom invokes Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, beginning the formal process of Brexit.
Carrie Lam (pictured) wins the Hong Kong Chief Executive election.
Former Russian MP and government critic Denis Voronenkov is shot dead in Kiev.
The World Meteorological Organization adds twelve new cloud types to the International Cloud Atlas, the first update to the official cloud classification scheme since 1986.
A terror attack at the Palace of Westminster, London, results in five people dead and fifty others injured.

On this day...

April 1: National Day in Iran (1979); Edible Book Day

The 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos

1293 – Robert Winchelsey left England for Rome to be consecrated by the Pope, only to find that there wasn't one.
1871 – Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (pictured) opened a new railway line, using horses instead of locomotives.
1924 – Wrigley Jr. opened a company, packaging chewing gum with each can of baking powder.
1947 – Over 20% of the Royal New Zealand Navy took the day off.
1997 – Marriage in the Netherlands became more samey.

William Harvey (b. 1578) · Sophie Germain (b. 1776) · Scott Joplin (d. 1917)

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Today's featured picture

The Jabberwock, the titular creature of Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem "Jabberwocky". First included in Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871), the poem was illustrated by John Tenniel, who gave the creature "the leathery wings of a pterodactyl and the long scaly neck and tail of a sauropod". "Jabberwocky" is considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English, and has contributed such nonsense words and neologisms as galumphing and chortle to the English lexicon.

Illustration: John Tenniel

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