Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 January 9

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From today's featured article

Falcon's Fury is a freestanding Sky Jump drop tower attraction at the Busch Gardens Tampa amusement park in Tampa, Florida. Manufactured by Intaride, a subsidiary of Intamin, the ride is North America's tallest freestanding drop tower, at a maximum height of 335 feet (102 m). It is also the first drop tower to use 90-degree tilting seats, facing riders straight down through five seconds of free fall. They reach a speed of 60 miles per hour (100 km/h) before rotating back into a vertical position and decelerating at about 3.5 Gs. The ride's name is meant to suggest a falcon's ability to dive steeply at high speed to capture prey. Due to the height of the attraction, approval from the Federal Aviation Administration was required. Construction was delayed until 2013, and the opening date was also delayed by mechanical and technical issues. Falcon's Fury opened to park employees in August before a soft opening on August 16, 2014, and an official opening on September 2, 2014. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

The Human Comedy

... that The Human Comedy (pictured) by French sculptor Ernest Christophe inspired Baudelaire's poem "The Mask"?
... that Ananda Thuriya, a chief minister, general, and son-in-law of King Sithu II of Pagan, began his career in the royal security detail?
... that basketball player Kobe Bryant was the first guard to play 20 seasons in the NBA?
... that Turkish-German women's footballer Melike Pekel was top scorer of the German Regionalliga Süd in the 2013–14 season, and became a member of the Turkey women's national team in 2015?
... that the fossil bumblebee Bombus cerdanyensis has notable darkening and texturing of the wing apex?
... that a Palestinian, Muhammad Najati Sidqi, wrote a book in 1940 arguing that Nazism was incompatible with Islam?
... that although designed as an input for gaming controllers like joysticks, the Atari joystick port was also used as a serial port for devices like modems?
... that Indian cricketer M. P. Pandove scored his maiden first-class century at age 16, while his son Dhruv Pandove scored his at age 14?

In the news

Portrait of Nimr al-Nimr

Nimr al-Nimr

Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán is recaptured six months after escaping from prison.
North Korea conducts its fourth nuclear test, claiming to have used a hydrogen bomb.
Saudi Arabia executes Nimr al-Nimr (portrait pictured) for his role in the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests.
A terrorist attack at India's Pathankot Air Force Station kills at least seven members of the security forces.
Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay take their seats on the United Nations Security Council.
Mass sexual assaults on women occur during New Year's Eve celebrations in Germany.

Ongoing events:
- Syrian Civil War
- European migrant crisis
Recent deaths:
- Pierre Boulez

On this day...

January 9: St. Stephen's Day (Eastern Christianity)

Examples of Davy lamps

475 – Basiliscus became Byzantine Emperor after Zeno was forced to flee Constantinople.
1816 – Inventor Humphry Davy first tested his Davy lamp (examples pictured), a safety lamp containing a candle for use in coal mines.
1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition, planted the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km) from the South Pole, the furthest south anyone had ever reached at that time.
1991 – Representatives from the United States and Iraq met at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
1996 – First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launched raids in the city of Kizlyar, Republic of Dagestan, which turned into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.

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Today's featured picture

A Lantern of the Dead in Sarlat-la-Canéda, Dordogne, France. Such small stone towers are found chiefly in the centre and west of France. They are often thought to have indicated cemeteries through lights exhibited at the top of the structures.

Photograph: Jebulon

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