User:Tkgd2007/Portal
Featured articles
Atrociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Alberta, Canada. The first specimen was discovered in 1995 by the fossil collector Wayne Marshall in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation. In 2004, this became the holotype of the new genus and species Atrociraptor marshalli; the generic name is Latin for 'savage robber'. It is estimated to have measured 1.8 to 2 m (5.9 to 6.6 ft) in length and weighed 15 kg (33 lb). It would have had a large sickle-claw on the second toe and pennaceous feathers. Atrociraptor has a deeper face and more strongly backwards-inclined teeth than its contemporary relatives. It is thought to have been specialised for attacking larger prey due to its deep snout. Studies suggest dromaeosaurids used their sickle-claws to restrain prey while dismembering them with the mouth. Atrociraptor dates from around 72.2 to 71.5 million years ago; it survived for more than 2 million years and across a wide geographic area. (Full article...)
.jpg)
SMS Friedrich Carl was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy. A member of the Prinz Adalbert class, the ship was intended to act as a scout for the fleet's battleships and to patrol the German colonial empire. The Prinz Adalbert class was based on the earlier armored cruiser Prinz Heinrich, but with improved armament and armor. Built in the early 1900s, Friedrich Carl served in the German fleet from 1904 to 1909, which included a period as flagship of the reconnaissance squadron and a cruise to the Mediterranean Sea. The ship was then used as a torpedo test vessel from 1909 until the start of World War I in July 1914. Friedrich Carl was assigned to the Cruiser Division of the Baltic Sea, serving as its flagship. On 17 November 1914, the ship struck a Russian naval mine off Memel and sank, though only seven or eight men were killed in the sinking. (This article is part of a featured topic: Armored cruisers of Germany.)
Donkey Kong Country is a 1994 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It follows the gorilla Donkey Kong and his nephew Diddy Kong as they set out to recover their stolen banana hoard from the crocodile King K. Rool and his army, the Kremlings. Nintendo commissioned Rare to revive the dormant Donkey Kong franchise as it sought a game to compete with Sega's Aladdin (1993). Donkey Kong Country was one of the first home-console games to feature pre-rendered graphics, achieved through a compression technique that converted 3D models into sprites with little loss of detail. It was released on 18 November 1994 to acclaim. Critics hailed its visuals as groundbreaking and praised its gameplay and music; it is frequently listed as one of the greatest games of all time. Donkey Kong Country re-established Donkey Kong as a popular Nintendo franchise and was followed by sequels and ports for subsequent Nintendo consoles. (Full article...)
.jpg)
Edith Roosevelt (1861–1948; née Carow) was the second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and the first lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909. She grew up alongside the Roosevelt family, and married Theodore Roosevelt in 1886, having five children. She became a public figure when her husband became a war hero in the Spanish–American War and was elected governor of New York. Theodore became vice president in March 1901, and president after the assassination of William McKinley in September. Edith controlled when and how the press reported on the Roosevelts, and regulated Washington social life, organizing weekly meetings of the cabinet members' wives, and becoming the gatekeeper of who could attend formal events. Her oversight of the 1902 White House renovations and her hiring the first social secretary for a first lady, Belle Hagner, are considered enduring legacies. She remained politically active, despite poor health from the 1910s. (Full article...)
The first Arab siege of Constantinople in 674–678 was a major conflict of the Arab–Byzantine wars, and the first culmination of the Umayyad Caliphate's expansionist strategy towards the Byzantine Empire. In 672–673 Arab fleets secured bases along the coasts of Asia Minor, and set up a loose blockade around Constantinople. They used the peninsula of Cyzicus near the city as a base to spend the winter, and returned every spring to launch attacks against the city's fortifications. Finally the Byzantines managed to destroy the Arab navy using a new invention, the liquid incendiary substance known as Greek fire (pictured). The Byzantines also defeated the Arab land army in Asia Minor, forcing them to lift the siege. A peace treaty was signed, and following the outbreak of another Muslim civil war, the Byzantines experienced a brief period of ascendancy. The siege was the first major Arab defeat in 50 years of expansion. Tales of a large-scale siege of Constantinople even reached China. (Full article...)
MLS Cup 1999 was the fourth edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-level soccer league of the United States. It took place on November 21, 1999, at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and was contested by D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy in a rematch of the inaugural 1996 final played at the same venue. Both teams finished atop their respective conferences during the regular season under new head coaches and advanced through the first two rounds of the playoffs. D.C. United won 2–0 with first-half goals from Jaime Moreno and Ben Olsen for their third MLS Cup victory in four years; Olsen was named the most valuable player of the match for his winning goal. The final was played in front of 44,910 spectators—a record for the MLS Cup—and drew 1.16 million viewers on its ABC television broadcast. It was also the first MLS match to be played with a standard game clock and without a tiebreaker shootout. (Full article...)
In historical linguistics, Weise's law describes the loss of palatal quality some consonants undergo in specific contexts in the Proto-Indo-European language. In short, when the consonants represented by *ḱ *ǵ *ǵʰ, called palatovelar consonants, are followed by *r, they lose their palatal quality, leading to a loss in distinction between them and the plain velar consonants *k *g *gʰ. Some exceptions exist, such as when the *r is followed by *i or when the palatal form is restored by analogy with related words. Although this sound change is most prominent in the satem languages, it is believed that the change must have occurred prior to the centum–satem division, based on an earlier sound change which affected the distribution of Proto-Indo-European *u and *r. The law is named after the German linguist Oskar Weise, who first postulated it in 1881 as the solution to reconciling cognates in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit. (Full article...)
.jpg)
Sydney Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer who played a pioneering role in British television and Canadian cinema. During the 1950s and 60s, he was held the role of Head of Drama at ABC Weekend TV and later at the BBC. During this time, he created the spy-fi series The Avengers and co-created the science-fiction series Doctor Who. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman was appointed acting director of the Broadcast Programs Branch for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and then head of the National Film Board of Canada. He also occupied senior positions at the Canadian Film Development Corporation and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as acting as an advisor to the Secretary of State. His obituary in The Guardian declared that "for ten brief but glorious years, [he] ... was the most important impresario in Britain ... His death marks... the laying to rest of a whole philosophy of popular art." (Full article...)
The Importance of Being Earnest is a drawing-room comedy by Oscar Wilde, premiered on 14 February 1895 in London. It depicts the affairs of two young men about town who lead double lives to evade unwanted social obligations, both assuming the name Ernest to woo two young women. Other characters are the formidable Lady Bracknell, the fussy governess Miss Prism and the benign and scholarly Canon Chasuble. The play, celebrated for its wit and repartee, parodies contemporary dramatic norms and comically satirises late-Victorian manners. The triumphant opening night was followed within weeks by Wilde's downfall and imprisonment for homosexual acts and the closure of the production, and Wilde wrote no more comic or dramatic works. From the early 20th century onwards the play has been revived frequently and adapted for radio, television, film, operas and musicals. (Full article...)
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling chronic illness. People with ME/CFS experience profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, sleep issues, and problems with memory or concentration. The hallmark symptom is a worsening of the illness which starts hours to days after minor physical or mental activity, and lasts from hours to several months. The cause of the disease is unknown. ME/CFS often starts after an infection, and many people fit the ME/CFS diagnostic criteria after contracting long COVID. Diagnosis is based on symptoms because no diagnostic test is available. The illness can improve or worsen over time, but full recovery is uncommon. No therapies or medications are approved to treat the condition, and management is aimed at relieving symptoms. About a quarter of those affected are unable to leave their bed or home. People with ME/CFS often face stigma in healthcare settings, and care is complicated by controversies around the cause and treatments of the illness. (Full article...)