Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 March 16

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From today's featured article

Hurricane Marie is tied as the seventh-most intense Pacific hurricane on record, attaining a barometric pressure of 918 mbar (hPa; 27.11 inHg) in August 2014. At its peak, the hurricane's gale-force winds spanned an area 575 miles (925 km) across. Although its center remained well away from land, its large size created dangerous surf from Southwestern Mexico to southern California. Off the coast of Los Cabos, three people drowned after their boat capsized in rough seas. In Colima and Oaxaca, heavy rains and flooding from outer bands caused two fatalities. Toward the end of August, swells of 10 to 15 ft (3.0 to 4.6 m), the largest seen from a hurricane in decades, battered coastlines in southern California, with structural damage on Santa Catalina Island and in the Greater Los Angeles Area. A breakwater near Long Beach sustained $10 million worth of damage, with portions gouged out. One person drowned in the surf near Malibu. Hundreds of ocean rescues, including over 100 in Malibu alone, were attributed to the storm, and overall losses reached $20 million. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Zofia Posmysz
in Auschwitz

... that Zofia Posmysz (pictured), Auschwitz inmate No. 7566, wrote an audio play based on her memories, which formed the basis for her 1962 novel Passenger, a 1963 film, and a 1968 opera?
... that the spider genus Seycellesa and the nematode genus Traklosia were both originally named Robertia, but had to be renamed?
... that architect William Strudwick Arrasmith designed more than 60 Greyhound bus stations?
... that the Australian Air Corps has been described as "Australia's first independent air force, albeit an interim one"?
... that Luo Haocai, who was jailed by the British and deported from Singapore, became Vice President of China's Supreme People's Court?
... that Tillie Walden's graphic novel Spinning, a memoir of her adolescent career as a competitive figure skater, was originally her thesis for the Center for Cartoon Studies?
... that US Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett taught constitutional law at Blackstone Legal Fellowship?
... that the solar eclipse of May 20, 2012, began on a Monday and ended on the previous Sunday?

In the news

Stephen Hawking

In response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal with a nerve agent, the United Kingdom expels 23 Russian diplomats.
British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking (pictured) dies at the age of 76.
At least 49 people are killed after US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 crashes en route from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Kathmandu, Nepal.
The Winter Paralympics open in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The wreck of USS Lexington is discovered in the Coral Sea.

On this day...

March 16

Samoset greeting
the Pilgrims

1621 – Samoset, a member of the Abenaki tribe, strolled into Plymouth Colony and greeted the Pilgrims in English (pictured).
1689 – The Royal Welch Fusiliers, one of the oldest line infantry regiments of the British Army, was founded.
1918 – Finnish Civil War: The Whites were victorious in the Battle of Länkipohja, after which they executed at least 70 Reds.
1988 – Using pistols and grenades, loyalist Michael Stone attacked the funeral of three Provisional IRA members who had been killed in Gibraltar ten days earlier, killing three attendees and injuring at least sixty others.
2014 – Annexation of Crimea: The Autonomous Republic of Crimea held a controversial referendum where voters overwhelmingly chose to join Russia as a federal subject.

Caroline Herschel (b. 1750) · Iso Rae (d. 1940) · Mary Meader (d. 2008)

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From today's featured list

Serena Williams

The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year is an annual award honouring the achievements of individual women from the world of sports. It was first awarded in 2000 as one of the seven constituent awards presented during the Laureus World Sports Awards. The awards are presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organisation involved in more than 150 charity projects supporting 500,000 young people. As of 2018, a shortlist of six nominees for the award comes from a panel composed of the "world's leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters". The Laureus World Sports Academy then selects the winner who is presented with a Laureus statuette, created by Cartier, at an annual awards ceremony held in various locations around the world. American tennis player Serena Williams has won the most awards with four: in 2003, 2010, 2016 and 2018. She has also received the most nominations with five. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Interior with Young Woman Seen from the Back is an oil painting on canvas completed by the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi c. 1903–04. Typical of his work in its use of a muted grey-blue palette, uncluttered composition, and detailed attention to the play of light; it depicts his wife, Ida, facing away from the viewer. The painting is held at the Randers Museum of Art in Randers, Denmark.

Painting: Vilhelm Hammershøi

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