Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 June 4

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From today's featured article

The King Island emu lived on King Island, in the Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. This extinct subspecies, the smallest of all emus, may have exhibited insular dwarfism. It had darker plumage, black and brown, with naked blue skin on the neck, and its chicks were striped like those on the mainland. The behaviour of the King Island emu probably did not differ much from that of the mainland emu. They fed on berries, grass and seaweed. They ran swiftly, and could defend themselves by kicking. Europeans discovered the subspecies in 1802. The French naturalist François Péron wrote about the bird after conducting an interview with a seal hunter, and in 1807 the artist Charles Alexandre Lesueur sketched a head, wing and feathers possibly belonging to this subspecies. In 1804 two live King Island emus were sent to France, where they were kept in the Jardin des plantes until they died in 1822, probably the last of their kind. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Milena Mrazović in 1899

... that Milena Mrazović (pictured), Bosnia-Herzegovina's first journalist, was branded an "unbearable, quarrelsome, scheming woman" for refusing to do the government's bidding in her newspaper?
... that at the Reading Railroad Massacre in July 1877, rioters burnt two cabooses, seven freight cars, a watch house, and a bridge?
... that having won a world title in 2016 at the age of 68, professional barrel racer Mary Burger became the oldest rodeo world champion?
... that Paul Gerhardt's song of thanks and praise "Nun danket all und bringet Ehr" was first published along with 17 of his other hymns in 1647, during the Thirty Years' War?
... that Ryan Bollinger is a phantom ballplayer?
... that after being excluded from the National Front by his daughter Marine Le Pen in 2015, Jean-Marie Le Pen created the Comités Jeanne, named after Joan of Arc?
... that Tetragonoporus calyptocephalus, a tapeworm that parasitizes whales, can grow to almost 40 m (130 ft) in length and produce billions of eggs during its lifetime?
... that the first name of Lucy Heartfilia, the Fairy Tail manga and anime series' main female protagonist, was inspired by the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"?

In the news

Giuseppe Conte

Giuseppe Conte (pictured) becomes Prime Minister of Italy, leading a coalition government after protracted negotiations.
Pedro Sánchez becomes Prime Minister of Spain after Mariano Rajoy loses a vote of no confidence.
In association football, the UEFA Champions League concludes with Real Madrid defeating Liverpool in the final to win their third consecutive title.
In a referendum, Ireland votes to allow the legalisation of abortion.
The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect, imposing strict privacy controls for its residents.

On this day...

Queen's Official Birthday in New Zealand (2018); Western Australia Day (2018)

George Vancouver

1561 –The spire of Old St Paul's Cathedral in London was destroyed by fire, probably caused by lightning.
1792 – Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver (pictured) claimed Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest for Great Britain.
1944 – A United States Navy task group captured German submarine U-505, the first warship to be captured by U.S. forces on the high seas since the War of 1812.
1967 – A chartered aircraft owned by British Midland Airways crashed near Stockport, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, killing 72 of the 84 passengers and crew on board.
1998 – Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Przemysł I of Greater Poland (d. 1257) · Miguel de Azcuénaga (b. 1754) · W. H. R. Rivers (d. 1922)

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From today's featured list

Damien Chazelle

The 2016 American film La La Land was nominated for 265 awards, winning 112; its direction, screenplay, music and the performances of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone received the most attention from award groups. La La Land received 14 nominations at the 89th Academy Awards tying the record for most nominations by a single film with All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997). It won six, Best Director (Damien Chazelle – pictured), Best Actress (Stone), Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, and Best Production Design. At the ceremony, the film was also falsely announced as the winner for Best Picture (which it lost to Moonlight), and Chazelle became the youngest winner of the Best Director award. The film garnered a leading seven Golden Globe Award nominations. Winning all of its nominations, it became the film with the most Golden Globe Awards. La La Land also led the 70th British Academy Film Awards with five wins and 11 nominations. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa) is a large, long-legged, long-billed shorebird first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. There are three subspecies, all with orange head, neck and chest in breeding plumage and dull grey-brown winter coloration, and distinctive black and white wingbar at all times. Its range stretches from Iceland through Europe and central Asia during the breeding season, wintering in areas as diverse as the Indian subcontinent, Australia, western Europe, and west Africa. The species is more likely to be found inland and on freshwater than the similar bar-tailed godwit. The world population is estimated to be 634,000 to 805,000, and the species is classified as Near-Threatened.

Photograph: Andreas Trepte

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