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Today's featured article "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" is the pilot episode of the animated television series South Park. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on August 13, 1997. The episode introduces child protagonists Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh and Kenny McCormick, who attempt to rescue Kyle's younger brother Ike from being abducted by aliens. At the time of the writing of the episode, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone did not yet have a series contract with Comedy Central. Short on money, the creators animated the episode using paper cutout stop motion technique, similarly to the short films that were the precursors to the series. As such, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" remains the only South Park episode animated largely without the use of computer technology. Part of a reaction to the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s in the United States, South Park is deliberately offensive. Much of the show's humor, and of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", arises from the juxtaposition of the seeming innocence of childhood and the violent, crude behavior exhibited by the main characters. The episode also exemplifies the carnivalesque, which includes humor, bodily excess, linguistic games that challenge official discourse, and the inversion of social structures. Initial reviews of the episode were generally negative; critics singled out the gratuitous obscenity of the show for particular scorn. Regarding the amount of obscenities in the episode, Parker later commented that they felt "pressure" to live up to the earlier shorts which first made the duo popular. (more...) Recently featured: Prince Louis of Battenberg – Titania – Richard Barre Did you know... From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the desert plants pale wolfberry (pictured) and Berlandier's wolfberry were both used by native Americans for medicinal purposes? ... that Steven Gan took advantage of a loophole in Malaysian Internet law to create the country's first independent news source? ... that despite many critics writing that "Stupid in Love" was about Rihanna and Chris Brown's altercation on the night of the 51st Grammy Awards, the song was written two days before the event? ... that Arodys Vizcaíno's fastball has been recorded as fast as 101 miles per hour (163 km/h)? ... that the Central Committee of the Commission for Organizing the Party of the Working People of Ethiopia included only one woman? ... that, as a publisher and literary critic, Drago Siliqi increased translation of foreign literature into Albanian and encouraged Ismail Kadare to write his first novel, The General of the Dead Army? ... that after the Thoroughbred racehorse Bloomsbury won the 1839 Derby Stakes, his identity was questioned and bookmakers refused to pay out on "winning" bets?

In the news Russian scientists reach Lake Vostok, isolated under the Antarctic ice shield, after drilling a 3,768-meter (12,362-foot) borehole. Sauli Niinistö (pictured) of the National Coalition Party is elected President of Finland. In American football, the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots to win Super Bowl XLVI. Syrian opposition leaders report that at least 200 people were killed during a military operation in Homs. The passenger ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea, leaving 100 people still missing. Polish poet Wisława Szymborska, recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature, dies at the age of 88. More than 70 people are killed in crowd violence following a football match in Port Said, Egypt. On this day... February 7: 1904 – The Great Baltimore Fire in Maryland began, and would destroy over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours. 1907 – Over 3,000 women trudged through the cold and the rutty streets of London in the Mud March, the first large procession organized by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, to advocate for women's suffrage. 1943 – World War II: Japan successfully withdrew its troops from Guadalcanal. 1986 – President of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier fled the country after a popular uprising, ending 28 years of one-family rule in the nation. 1995 – Ramzi Yousef (pictured), one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434, was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan. More anniversaries: February 6 – February 7 – February 8 It is now February 7, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture The Wave (1896) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, an example of an art nude, an art form where the naked human form is the dominant theme and is not intentionally erotic. It does not involve the subject interacting with anyone or the face of the nude as a prominent feature. The body presented is revealed as an object of art and not a person with reference to his or her social relationships and behavioral patterns. Recently featured: Butterfly magnification series – Aurora australis from space – Violet coral fungus

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