Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 November 22

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From today's featured article

The sea mink (Neovison macrodon) was a mammal from the eastern coast of North America, in the family of weasels and otters in the order Carnivora. The largest of the minks, it was hunted to extinction by fur traders before 1903, when it was first given a species description. Some biologists classify it as a subspecies of the American mink. Estimates of its size are speculative, based largely on skull fragments recovered from Native American shell middens, and on tooth remains. Some information on its appearance and habits was provided by fur traders and Native Americans. It may have been similar in behavior to the American mink: it probably maintained home ranges, was polygynandrous, and had a similar diet, supplemented by saltwater prey. Sea minks were commonly trapped along the coast of the Bay of Fundy in the Gulf of Maine. Remains have been found along the New England coast, and there were regular reports of unusually large mink furs, probably sea mink, being collected from Nova Scotia. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

SS Andaste fully laden

... that the SS Andaste (pictured) – a hybrid whaleback Great Lakes cargo vessel – disappeared with all hands on Lake Michigan in 1929 and is still listed as unfound?
... that Olive Scott was Britain's first dedicated paediatric cardiologist?
... that for 70 years, Jerusalem customers have done their banking in an eclectic mansion on Jaffa Road?
... that Alton C. Parker was the first black police detective in Canada?
... that the coral Acropora aculeus is particularly susceptible to coral bleaching and coral diseases and is listed as a vulnerable species?
... that Tyler Toland became the Republic of Ireland's youngest women's senior international footballer in September 2017?
... that the 2016 article "United States Health Care Reform: Progress to Date and Next Steps" was the first article by a sitting U.S. president to be published in an academic journal?
... that Japanese singer Asuka Ōkura made her music debut as her record label contract was about to expire?

In the news

`Oumuamua

Robert Mugabe resigns as President of Zimbabwe following a military coup.
Scientists describe ʻOumuamua (artist's impression shown), the first known apparent interstellar object to pass through the Solar System.
In American stock car racing, Martin Truex Jr. wins the NASCAR Cup Series.
The Argentinian submarine ARA San Juan, with 44 crew on board, goes missing in the South Atlantic.
Salvator Mundi, generally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sells at auction for US$450.3 million, a new record for an artwork.
Borut Pahor is re-elected President of Slovenia.

On this day...

November 22: Alphabet Day in Albania (1908)

China Clipper

1718 – The pirate Blackbeard was killed in battle by a boarding party of British sailors off the coast of North Carolina, ending his reign of terror in the Caribbean.
1812 – War of 1812: During a punitive expedition against Native American villages, a contingent of Indiana Rangers were ambushed by Kickapoo, Winnebago, and Shawnee warriors.
1910 – The crews of the Brazilian warships Minas Geraes, São Paulo, Bahia—all commissioned only months before—and several smaller vessels mutinied against what they called the "slavery" being practiced in the Brazilian Navy.
1935 – The China Clipper flying boat (pictured) took off from Alameda, California, U.S., to become the first service to deliver airmail cargo across the Pacific Ocean.
1967 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 242 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

As-Salih Ayyub (d. 1249) · Serranus Clinton Hastings (b. 1814) · Hans Adolf Krebs (d. 1981)

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Today's featured picture

Rüdesheim am Rhein is a winemaking town in the Rhine Gorge in Hesse, Germany. First mentioned in 1074, it received town rights in 1818. As part of the Rhine Gorge, the town is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Photograph: DXR

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