Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 December 23

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From today's featured article
New York State Route 319 was a state highway in Chenango County, New York, in the United States. It was 5.47 miles (8.80 km) long and connected the hamlet of Preston to the nearby city of Norwich. What became NY 319 was originally built during the early 19th century as the privately owned Norwich and Preston Turnpike. The state of New York assumed ownership in the early 20th century, and the Preston–Norwich state highway was designated as NY 319 as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. Maintenance of NY 319 was split between the state and the city of Norwich, with the New York State Department of Transportation handling the part of the route west of the city limits. In 1962, the New York State Legislature approved a highway maintenance swap that would transfer the state-maintained section of NY 319 to Chenango County when a new alignment was constructed for NY 23 through the northwestern part of the county. The project was completed in July 1984, at which time the NY 319 designation was completely removed and Chenango County assumed maintenance of the route's former alignment west of Norwich. The new county road was redesignated County Route 10A. (Full article...) Recently featured: Blackburn Olympic F.C. – Worlds End State Park – 2012 phenomenon Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Tongan Prince Vuna Takitakimālohi (pictured with his parents) was King George Tupou I's only surviving legitimate son according to Christian law, and his early death in 1862 left his father without an heir? ... that today is the day when Krishna gave the holy sermon of the Bhagavad Gita to the Pandava prince Arjuna, as described in the Mahabharata? ... that Japanese industrialist Inabata Katsutaro, a member of the House of Peers, put on Japan's first projected film programme? ... that when it first opened in 1991, The Peninsula Beverly Hills was the first luxury hotel to open in Beverly Hills for 20 years? ... that a 27-year-old law student was the sole challenger against the candidature of Maronite strongman Suleiman Frangieh in the 1968 election in the Zgharta constituency? ... that professional mixed martial arts fighter Abel Trujillo was expected to make his UFC debut at UFC 151, but it became the first-ever cancelled event in the organization's history? ... that by the end of the Third Siege of Gibraltar in 1333, the city's inhabitants were reduced to eating their shoes because the town's governor had stolen the money meant to pay for food? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Park Geun-hye (pictured) is elected President of South Korea, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Swiss bank UBS is fined US$1.5 billion for its role in the Libor scandal. Former Congolese militia leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui is acquitted by the International Criminal Court of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Shinzō Abe is elected Prime Minister of Japan as the Liberal Democratic Party gains an absolute majority in the House of Representatives. Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are dead following a shooting at an elementary school in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Recent deaths: Daniel Inouye – Dina Manfredini – Páidí Ó Sé Syrian civil war – Wikinews – More current events...
On this day...
December 23: Tenth of Tevet (Judaism, 2012); The Emperor's Birthday in Japan; Festivus 1888 – During a bout of mental illness, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh stalked his friend French painter Paul Gauguin with a razor, and then afterwards cut off the lower part of his own left ear and gave it to a prostitute. 1957 – Ian Craig of Australia became the youngest Test cricket captain in history. 1958 – The Tokyo Tower (pictured), the tallest self-supporting steel structure in the world at 332.5 metres (1,091 ft), opened. 1972 – In one of the most famous plays in the history of American football, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris made the Immaculate Reception of a pass by quarterback Terry Bradshaw near the end of a playoff game. 1990 – About eighty-eight percent of the population in Slovenia voted to secede from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. More anniversaries: December 22 – December 23 – December 24 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now December 23, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

Agnes Milowka (1981–2011) was an Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, and cave explorer. She gained international recognition for extending cave systems across Australia and in Florida, and as a public speaker and author on the subjects of diving and maritime archaeology. She participated in National Geographic and Discovery Channel expeditions. Her passion led her to act as a stunt double on Andrew Wight's feature film Sanctum and to participate in shooting real scenery in Mount Gambier caves, where she drowned a few weeks after the movie's premiere.

Photo: James Axford

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