Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 September 24

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From today's featured article

Westlake Station

The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel is a public transit tunnel for buses and light rail trains in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It runs north–south through Downtown Seattle, connecting five stations on 3rd Avenue and Pine Street. It is the busiest section of Sound Transit's Link light rail network, with an average of over 10,000 weekday train boardings at the four stations served by light rail. The $469 million tunnel was planned in the late 1970s and built between 1987 and 1990, using tunnel boring machines and cut-and-cover excavation. Between 1990 and 2004, the tunnel was exclusively used by dual-mode buses that ran on overhead wires; they were later replaced with hybrid electric buses using batteries within the tunnel. After a two-year renovation, the tunnel reopened on September 24, 2007, and light rail service began in July 2009, sharing the platforms with existing buses. Planned expansion of the light rail system, along with the closure of one station, will necessitate the removal of buses from the tunnel by 2019. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Fire of Kraków

... that the Kraków Fire of 1850 (pictured) destroyed approximately 10% of the city?
... that Nannie C. Dunsmoor, a Los Angeles pioneer woman physician practicing into her 80s, was the oldest United States active member of the Soroptimist Club?
... that the call of the slaty-backed forktail can easily be mistaken for that of the Blyth's kingfisher?
... that the Massachusetts Convention of Towns in 1768 created a war scare, causing prices to drop on the London Stock Exchange?
... that in order to accurately portray her character Kirsty Clements' domestic violence storyline, actress Lucy Gaskell spoke to women affected by domestic abuse?
... that when the Pass A L'Outre Light began to sink into the ground, its floor was raised and a new door cut in its side to compensate?
... that Frederick Brundrett, the UK's Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence, was one of Britain's oldest first-class field hockey players?
... that the Cup of Solid Gold, China's first national anthem, was never performed publicly?

In the news

Earthquake damage
in Mexico City

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake strikes central Mexico (damage pictured), killing more than three hundred people.
Hurricane Maria crosses the Antilles as a Category 5 hurricane, causing widespread destruction and at least 37 deaths.
In U.S. television, The Handmaid's Tale wins Best Drama and Veep wins Best Comedy at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
In Gaelic football, Dublin beat Mayo in the final to win their third consecutive All-Ireland title.
The Cassini–Huygens mission to the Saturn system ends with a controlled fall into the atmosphere of the planet.

On this day...

September 24: Banned Books Week begins (2017); Heritage Day in South Africa

Camp Nou, Barcelona

1645 – English Civil War: Royalists under the personal command of King Charles I suffered a significant defeat in the Battle of Rowton Heath.
1841 – The Sultan of Brunei granted Sarawak to British adventurer James Brooke.
1957 – Barcelona's Camp Nou (pictured), currently the largest stadium in Europe with a seating capacity of 99,354, opened.
1992 – Oba Chandler was arrested three years after he committed a triple murder in Tampa Bay, Florida, U.S., when his neighbor identified handwriting samples that police had placed on local billboards.
2007 – During the Saffron Revolution in Myanmar, the largest anti-government protests in 20 years took place in Yangon.

Antoine-Louis Barye (b. 1796) · Georges Claude (b. 1870) · Gennady Yanayev (d. 2010)

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Today's featured picture

A female cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) on the Phinda Private Game Reserve, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Cheetahs accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour (0 to 97 km/h) in less than 3 seconds and average 40 mph (64 km/h) during a chase. The species is classified as vulnerable, with only 7,000 left in the wild.

Photograph: Charles J. Sharp

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