Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 May 13

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From today's featured article

Millennium Force is a steel roller coaster at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Completed in 2000, it has broken and helped to break ten world records. It was also the first Giga Coaster (any complete circuit roller coaster that exceeds 300 feet (91 m) in height) in the world. It was briefly the tallest and fastest complete circuit roller coaster in the world, before being surpassed by Steel Dragon 2000 in August 2000. The ride is also the second-longest roller coaster in North America after The Beast at Kings Island, and was the first roller coaster to use a cable lift system, rather than a traditional chain lift. The coaster has a 310 ft (94 m), 45 degree inclined lift hill with a 300 ft (91 m) drop, and features two tunnels, three overbanked turns, and four hills. It has a top speed of about 93 mph (150 km/h). Since 2001, Millennium Force has been voted the number one steel roller coaster in the world eight times in Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards, and has never been ranked lower than number two. Although it is no longer the tallest or fastest roller coaster at Cedar Point, it is still one of the tallest and fastest in the world. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the coat of arms of Fiji (pictured) was retained after independence from the United Kingdom in 1970, partly because of its links to the last Fijian king, who ceded his country to Britain?
... that despite winning the Baja 1000 four times (twice overall) in off-road competition, Mark Stahl never finished better than 16th in NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock cars?
... that the natural monument Vápenice in the Czech Republic is a former limestone quarry?
... that Doris Huestis Speirs, after whom an annual prize bestowed by the Society of Canadian Ornithologists is named, exhibited her paintings with the Group of Seven and the Canadian Group of Painters?
... that Xining's People's Park was designed by a recent college graduate?
... that the syndicalist Léa Roback opened the first Marxist book store in Montreal?
... that Umeå Energi set up lamps in bus shelters to avoid people getting SAD?

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In the news

The ruling African National Congress wins a majority in the South African general election.
"Rise Like a Phoenix" by Austrian singer Conchita Wurst (pictured) wins the Eurovision Song Contest.
Syrian government forces capture the strategic city of Homs after three years of siege and a ceasefire agreement allowing rebel withdrawal.
The Constitutional Court of Thailand rules that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra abused her power and removes her from office.
Mark Selby defeats Ronnie O'Sullivan to win the World Snooker Championship.
Two bus bombings in Nairobi, Kenya, kill three people and injure sixty-two others.

Ongoing: Ukrainian unrest – Chibok kidnapping
Recent deaths: Reg Gasnier – Farley Mowat – Maria Lassnig

On this day...

May 13

1638 – Construction began in Delhi on the Red Fort (Lahori Gate pictured), the residence of the Mughal emperors, now an iconic symbol of India.
1779 – Russian and French mediators negotiated the Treaty of Teschen to end the War of the Bavarian Succession.
1913 – Russian American Igor Sikorsky flew the world's first multi-engine fixed-wing aircraft, the Russky Vityaz, which he designed himself.
1948 – Fifteen Jewish residents of Kibbutz Kfar Etzion were massacred following their surrender after a two-day battle with the Arab Legion and Arab settlers.
1985 – Eleven members of the American black liberation group MOVE were killed when a Philadelphia police helicopter dropped a bomb on their house during a raid.

More anniversaries: May 12 – May 13 – May 14

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It is now May 13, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

Clynotis is a genus of jumping spider contained within the subfamily Marpissinae. They are found across Australia and New Zealand, with some species occupying the Auckland Islands and one found exclusively on Snares Island. This specimen, a female Clynotis severus, was found in Austins Ferry, Tasmania.

Photograph: JJ Harrison

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