Wikipedia:Main Page history/2022 January 2

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From today's featured article

John Neal

Seventy-Six is a historical fiction novel by American writer John Neal (pictured). Published in Baltimore in 1823, it is the fourth novel written about the American Revolutionary War. Historically distinguished for its pioneering use of colloquial language, the Yankee dialect, battle scene realism, high characterization, stream of consciousness narrative, profanity, and depictions of sex and romance, the novel foreshadowed and influenced later American fiction. With narrative prose that resembles spoken American English more than any other period literature, it was the first work of American fiction to use the phrase son-of-a-bitch. It explores male pain and self-loathing resulting from violent acts committed in war and duels. Inspired by his own historical research, Neal took only twenty-seven days to write the 528-page novel, reporting that "I tumbled out of my chair" because "I had fainted, – swooned, – from overwork." (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Yasmin Miller

... that children copied British champion 60 m hurdler Yasmin Miller (pictured) while she was training in her local park during the COVID-19 lockdown?
... that Robert D. Bullard has emerged as the "father of environmental justice" since the publication of his 1990 book, Dumping in Dixie?
... that after the arrival of guerilla commander Goliath Tabuni, Puncak Jaya Regency became "the most violent" region in Papua?
... that the presence of illegal colleges in Saumlaki was compared to "mushrooms growing in the rainy season"?
... that West Virginia lawyer Arthur G. Froe served as D.C. Recorder of Deeds under three presidents and was appointed by President Wilson as a draft board legal advisor during World War I?
... that clashes between the Myanmar military and local armed groups broke out in Lay Kay Kaw six years after it was established as a "town of peace" between the parties?
... that in 1896, the New York Driving Club was sued for damaging their neighbor's garden?
... that Daviesia devito and D. schwarzenegger are two Australian peas?

In the news

Betty White

American actress and comedian Betty White (pictured) dies at the age of 99.
In Hong Kong, Stand News closes down after its staff are arrested for sedition.
The Supreme Court of Russia orders the closure of Memorial, Russia's oldest human rights group, for violations of the foreign agent law.
In cricket, Australia retains the Ashes after winning the first three Tests against England.

On this day

January 2: Feast day of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus and Saint Basil of Caesarea (Roman Rite Catholicism, Anglicanism)

Urbain Le Verrier

533 – Mercurius, a Roman priest, was elected Pope John II; he was apparently the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
1680 – Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram of Java and his courtiers stabbed Trunajaya to death a week after the rebel leader surrendered to VOC forces.
1860 – French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier (pictured) announced the putative discovery of the planet Vulcan at a meeting at the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.
1944 – World War II: The United States and Australia successfully landed 13,000 troops in Papua New Guinea in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat.
1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong won its first major victory at the Battle of Ap Bac.

Lodomer (d. 1298)
Tex Rickard (b. 1870)
Dnyaneshwar Agashe (d. 2009)

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Today's featured picture

The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) is the most widespread of the New World vultures, with a range extending from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. It feeds primarily on a wide variety of carrion, from small mammals to large herbivores, preferring those recently dead to putrefying carcasses; it rarely kills prey itself. Populations appear to be stable, and it is listed as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This photograph shows a turkey vulture in flight in Cuba. It employs static soaring flight, in which it flaps its wings infrequently, and takes advantage of rising thermals to stay aloft.

Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp

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