Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 2012

Today's featured article archive

September 1

The 2007 University of Southern California Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California during the college football season of 2007–2008, winning a share of the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) Championship and winning the 2008 Rose Bowl. The team was coached by Pete Carroll and played their home games at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The team entered the season with high expectations. It was ranked No. 1 in all national pre-season polls, picked unanimously to win the Pac-10 Conference and expected to contend for a national championship. Those hopes were dealt a major blow when the Trojans lost to 41-point underdog Stanford in a mid-season game that was named one of the greatest upsets in a season that became defined by them. After their second loss, there were questions as to whether the team would be able to even win their own conference, let alone compete nationally. However, USC defied mid-season expectations and rallied, finishing the season ranked No. 2 in the Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the Associated Press (AP) Poll. The Trojans accomplished two major feats: They became the first team to win six straight Pac-10 titles, and were the first team in major college football to achieve six straight 11-win seasons. (more...)

Recently featured: "Amazing Grace" – Simon Bolivar Buckner – History of Michigan State University

September 2

Augustine of Canterbury (c. first third of the 6th century – 604) was a Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church. Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to Christianize King Æthelberht of the Kingdom of Kent from his native Anglo-Saxon paganism. Before reaching Kent the missionaries had considered turning back but Gregory urged them on and, in 597, Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet and proceeded to Æthelberht's main town of Canterbury. King Æthelberht converted to Christianity and allowed the missionaries to preach freely, giving them land to found a monastery outside the city walls. Augustine was consecrated as a bishop and converted many of the king's subjects, including thousands during a mass baptism on Christmas Day in 597. Roman bishops were established at London and Rochester in 604, and a school was founded to train Anglo-Saxon priests and missionaries. The archbishop probably died in 604 and was soon revered as a saint. (more...)

Recently featured: 2007 USC Trojans football team – "Amazing Grace" – Simon Bolivar Buckner

September 3

Authentic Science Fiction was a British science fiction magazine published in the 1950s that ran for 85 issues. The magazine was published by Hamilton and Co., and began in 1951 as a series of novels appearing every two weeks; by the summer it had become a monthly magazine, with readers' letters and an editorial page, though fiction content was still restricted to a single novel. In 1952 short fiction began to appear alongside the novels, and within two more years it had completed the transformation into a science fiction magazine. Authentic published little in the way of important or ground-breaking fiction, though it did print Charles L. Harness's "The Rose", which later became well-regarded. The poor rates of pay—£1 per 1,000 words—prevented the magazine from attracting the best writers. During much of its life it competed against three other moderately successful British science fiction magazines, as well as the American science fiction magazine market. Hamilton folded the magazine in October 1957, because they needed cash to finance an investment in the UK rights to an American best-selling novel. (more...)

Recently featured: Augustine of Canterbury – 2007 USC Trojans football team – "Amazing Grace"

September 4

The 1740 Batavia massacre was a pogrom against ethnic Chinese in the port city of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. The violence inside the city lasted from 9 to 22 October 1740. Unrest in the Chinese population had been triggered by government repression and reduced income from falling sugar prices prior to the massacre. In response, at a meeting of the Council of the Indies, Governor-General Adriaan Valckenier declared that any uprising was to be met with deadly force. His resolution took effect on 7 October after hundreds of ethnic Chinese, many of them sugar mill workers, killed 50 Dutch soldiers. The Dutch dispatched troops who confiscated all weapons from the Chinese populace and placed the Chinese under a curfew. Two days later, after being frightened by rumours of Chinese atrocities, other Batavian ethnic groups began burning Chinese houses along Besar Stream and Dutch soldiers launched an assault using cannons on Chinese homes. The violence soon spread throughout Batavia, killing more Chinese. Although Valckenier declared an amnesty on 11 October, gangs of irregulars continued to hunt and kill Chinese until 22 October, when Valckenier called more forcefully for a cessation of hostilities. Historians have estimated that at least 10,000 ethnic Chinese were massacred. (more...)

Recently featured: Authentic Science Fiction – Augustine of Canterbury – 2007 USC Trojans football team

September 5

Sebastian Shaw (1905–1994) was an English actor, director, novelist, playwright and poet. During his 65-year career, Shaw appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions. Shaw was born and raised in Holt, Norfolk, and made his acting debut at age eight at a London theatre. He studied acting at Gresham's School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Although he worked primarily on the London stage, he made his Broadway debut in 1929, when he played one of the two murderers in Rope's End. He appeared in his first film, Caste, in 1930 and quickly began to create a name for himself in films. Shaw was particularly known for his performances in William Shakespeare productions, which were considered daring and ahead of their time. In 1966, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he remained for a decade and delivered some of his most acclaimed performances. He also wrote several poems and a novel, The Christening, in 1975. He is also known for his brief but important performance in Return of the Jedi, the original third installment in the Star Wars franchise, in which he portrayed an unmasked Darth Vader and as Anakin Skywalker's ghost in the original version of the film. (more...)

Recently featured: 1740 Batavia massacre – Authentic Science Fiction – Augustine of Canterbury

September 6

Avery Brundage (1887–1975) was the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), serving from 1952 to 1972. Brundage attended the University of Illinois to study engineering and became a track star. In 1912, he competed in the Summer Olympics, contesting the pentathlon and decathlon; both events were won by Jim Thorpe. Following his retirement from athletics, Brundage became a sports administrator, rising rapidly through the ranks in United States sports groups. As leader of America's Olympic organizations, he fought zealously against a boycott of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Nazi Germany. Although Brundage was successful in getting a team to the Games, its participation was controversial, and has remained so. Brundage was elected to the IOC that year, and quickly became a major figure in the Olympic movement. Elected IOC president in 1952, Brundage fought strongly for amateurism and against commercialization of the Olympic Games. His final Olympics as president, at Munich in 1972, was marked by controversy: at the memorial service following the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by terrorists, Brundage decried the politicization of sports, and refused to cancel the remainder of the Olympics, declaring "the Games must go on". (more...)

Recently featured: Sebastian Shaw – 1740 Batavia massacre – Authentic Science Fiction

September 7

Pedro I (1798–1834) was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he reigned over Portugal. Acting as regent on his father's behalf, he declared the independence of Brazil from Portugal on 7 September 1822. His acclamation as Brazilian emperor was followed by a victorious war against Portuguese armies. From the onset his reign was troubled by a long ideological conflict between him and a sizable parliamentary faction over the role of the monarch in the government. Other obstacles arose concurrently. In 1826 he briefly became king of Portugal before abdicating in favor of his eldest daughter, Dona Maria II. Her crown was later usurped by Prince Dom Miguel, Pedro I's younger brother. At the same time the unsuccessful Cisplatine War against the neighboring United Provinces of South America led to the secession of a Brazilian province (later to become Uruguay). Unable to deal with both Brazilian and Portuguese affairs, Pedro I abdicated on 7 April 1831 and immediately departed for Europe to restore his daughter to her throne. He invaded Portugal ahead of an army and defeated his brother, dying soon after of tuberculosis at age 35. (more...)

Recently featured: Avery Brundage – Sebastian Shaw – 1740 Batavia massacre

September 8

Hurricane Gustav was a Category 2 hurricane that paralleled the East Coast of the United States from September 8 to 12 during the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the seventh named storm and first hurricane of the season. Initially a subtropical depression north of the Bahamas, Gustav passed slightly to the east of the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a tropical storm before moving northeastward and making two landfalls in Atlantic Canada as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm was responsible for one death and $100,000 in damage, mostly in North Carolina. The interaction between Gustav and a non-tropical system produced strong winds that caused an additional $240,000 (2002 USD) in damage in New England, but this damage was not directly attributed to the hurricane. Gustav spent the early part of its life as a subtropical storm, and was the first such storm to be named from the current lists by the National Hurricane Center. Previously, subtropical storms were not given names. The cyclone was also the latest-forming first hurricane of the season since 1941. (more...)

Recently featured: Pedro I of Brazil – Avery Brundage – Sebastian Shaw

September 9

Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587) was queen regnant of Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567 and queen consort of France from 10 July 1559 to 5 December 1560. The only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland, she was six days old when her father died. She was crowned on 9 September 1543. In 1558, she married Francis, Dauphin of France. Mary was briefly queen consort of France, until she was widowed on 5 December 1560. Mary then returned to Scotland. Four years later, she married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, but in February 1567, he was found murdered in his garden. Following an uprising against Mary and her third husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle. On 24 July 1567, she was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son, James. (more...)

Recently featured: Hurricane Gustav – Pedro I of Brazil – Avery Brundage

September 10

Monteverdi's lost operas comprise seven of the ten operas written or part-written by the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (pictured) between 1607 and 1643, during the early baroque period. Apart from a few fragments, the music for these seven works has been lost, though in some cases the librettos have survived. Opera as a genre emerged during Monteverdi's creative lifetime, and he became a principal exponent of this new form, first at the Mantuan court and later as director of music at St Mark's Basilica in Venice. The loss of these works, written during a critical period of early opera history, has been much regretted by historians and musicologists, but reflects the habit of the times, when stage music was thought to have little relevance beyond its initial performance and often vanished quickly. Contemporary documents, including many letters written by Monteverdi, have provided most of the available information on the lost works, and have established that four of them were completed and performed in the composer's lifetime. Of the little music that has survived, the lamento from L'Arianna (1608) is well known as a concert piece and is frequently performed. (more...)

Recently featured: Mary, Queen of Scots – Hurricane Gustav – Pedro I of Brazil

September 11

Daspletosaurus ("frightful lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in western North America between 77 and 74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period. Fossils of the only named species (D. torosus) were found in Alberta, although other possible species from Alberta and Montana await description. Closely related to the much larger and more recent Tyrannosaurus, Daspletosaurus was a multi-ton bipedal predator equipped with dozens of large, sharp teeth. Daspletosaurus had the small forelimbs typical of tyrannosaurids, although they were proportionately longer than in other genera. As an apex predator, Daspletosaurus was at the top of the food chain, probably preying on large dinosaurs like the ceratopsid Centrosaurus and the hadrosaur Hypacrosaurus. (more...)

Recently featured: Monteverdi's lost operas – Mary, Queen of Scots – Hurricane Gustav

September 12

William S. Sadler (1875–1969) was an American surgeon, psychiatrist and author who helped publish The Urantia Book, a document that resulted from his relationship with a man whom he believed to be channeling extraterrestrials and celestial beings. Mentored by John Harvey Kellogg, he became a doctor and practiced medicine in Chicago. Sadler and his wife were speakers on the Chautauqua adult education circuit in 1907. He became a highly paid, popular orator and wrote over 40 books on medical and spiritual topics, advocating a holistic approach to health. Sometime between 1906 and 1911, Sadler attempted to treat a patient who spoke to him in unusual voices while sleeping. Sadler spent years observing the sleeping man and eventually decided the man had no mental illness and that his words were genuine. The man's communications were eventually published in The Urantia Book, and the Urantia Foundation was created to assist Sadler in spreading the book's message. Although it never became the basis of an organized religion, the book attracted followers who devoted themselves to its study, and the Urantia movement continued after Sadler's death. (more...)

Recently featured: Daspletosaurus – Monteverdi's lost operas – Mary, Queen of Scots

September 13

Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock. Oldham is surrounded by several smaller towns which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, of which Oldham is the administrative centre. Historically a part of Lancashire, and with little early history to speak of, Oldham rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and among the first ever industrialised towns, rapidly becoming "one of the most important centres of cotton and textile industries in England". At its zenith, it was the most productive cotton spinning mill town in the world, spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined. Oldham's textile industry began to fall into decline during the mid-20th century, and its last mill closed in 1998. The demise of textile processing in Oldham depressed the local economy. Today Oldham is a predominantly residential town, and a centre for further education and the performing arts. It is, however, still distinguished architecturally by the surviving cotton mills and other buildings associated with that industry. (more...)

Recently featured: William S. Sadler – Daspletosaurus – Monteverdi's lost operas

September 14

William McKinley (1843–1901) was the 25th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897, until his death. McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish–American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals. McKinley's administration ended with his assassination in September 1901, but his presidency began a period of over a third of a century dominated by the Republican Party. McKinley served in the Civil War and rose from private to brevet major. After the war, he settled in Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law and married Ida Saxton. In 1876, he was elected to Congress, where he became the Republican Party's expert on the protective tariff, which he promised would bring prosperity. His highly controversial 1890 McKinley Tariff, together with a Democratic redistricting effort aimed at gerrymandering him out of office led to his defeat in the Democratic landslide of 1890. (more...)

Recently featured: Oldham – William S. Sadler – Daspletosaurus

September 15

Ray Farquharson (1897–1965) was a Canadian doctor, university professor, and medical researcher. Born in Claude, Ontario, he attended and taught at the University of Toronto for most of his life, and was trained and employed at Toronto General Hospital. With co-researcher Arthur Squires, Farquharson was responsible for the discovery of the "Farquharson phenomenon", an important principle of endocrinology. He served in the First and Second World Wars, earning appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his medical work during the latter. He chaired the Penicillin Committee of Canada and served as a medical consultant for the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was awarded the Queen's Coronation Medal in 1953 as a result of his work for the Defence Review Board. As a member of the National Research Council of Canada, his "Farquharson Report" led to the establishment of the Medical Research Council of Canada, of which he was the first president. Farquharson was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 1998. (more...)

Recently featured: William McKinley – Oldham – William S. Sadler

September 16

Chrisye (1949–2007) was a Chinese-Indonesian singer and songwriter. Born in Jakarta, he became interested in music as a teenager. After joining a band in the 1960s and playing in New York, in 1976 he and the band worked on a collaboration with Guruh Sukarnoputra. The success of this album led to Chrisye being approached for two projects: the song "Lilin-Lilin Kecil" ("Small Candles") and the album Badai Pasti Berlalu (The Storm Will Surely Pass). Both projects were highly successful, and as a result Chrisye was signed to Musica Studios. With them, he released nineteen studio albums before his death from lung cancer. Chrisye was known as a stiff stage performer but widely praised for his vocal abilities. Rolling Stone Indonesia listed five of his albums and four of his songs as among the best in Indonesian music history; the magazine selected Chrisye as the third-best Indonesian musical artist of all time. His albums were mostly successful, and almost all were certified silver or higher. (more...)

Recently featured: Ray Farquharson – William McKinley – Oldham

September 17

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a 1974 nonfiction narrative book by American author Annie Dillard (pictured). Told from a first-person point of view, the book details an unnamed narrator's explorations near her home, and contemplations on nature and life. The title refers to Tinker Creek, which is outside Roanoke in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. Dillard began writing Pilgrim in the spring of 1973, using her personal journals as inspiration. Separated into four sections that signify each of the seasons, the narrative spans the period of one year in thoughts on solitude, writing, and religion, as well as scientific observations on the flora and fauna. Touching upon themes of faith, nature, and awareness, Pilgrim is also noted for its study of theodicy and the inherent cruelty of the natural world. The book is analogous in design and genre to Henry David Thoreau's Walden, the subject of Dillard's master's thesis at Hollins College. Pilgrim has been lauded by critics, won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction, and in 1999 was included in Modern Library's list of 100 Best Nonfiction Books. (more...)

Recently featured: Chrisye – Ray Farquharson – William McKinley

September 18

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. National Monument and National Preserve in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho, at an average elevation of 5,900 feet (1,800 m) above sea level. The protected area features one of the best-preserved flood basalt areas in the continental United States. The Monument was established on May 2, 1924. In November 2000, a presidential proclamation by President Clinton greatly expanded the Monument area. The National Park Service portions of the expanded Monument were designated as a National Preserve in August 2002. The Monument and Preserve encompass three major lava fields and about 400 square miles (1,000 km²) of sagebrush steppe grasslands. All three lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho, with some of the best examples of open rift cracks in the world, including the deepest known on Earth at 800 feet (240 m). (more...)

Recently featured: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Chrisye – Ray Farquharson

September 19

The Concert in Central Park is the first live album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released in February 1982 on Warner Bros. Records. It was recorded in September 1981 at a free benefit concert in Central Park, New York City, where the pair performed in front of more than 500,000 people. Proceeds from the endeavor went toward the redevelopment and maintenance of the run-down green space in the middle of Manhattan. This concert and album marked the start of a short-lived reunion for Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. The concept of a benefit concert in Central Park had been proposed by Parks Commissioner Gordon Davis and promoter Ron Delsener. Television channel HBO agreed to carry the concert, and worked with Delsener to decide on Simon & Garfunkel as the appropriate act for this event. Besides hit songs from their years as a duo, their set-list included material from their solo and duo careers, and covers. (more...)

Recently featured: Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve – Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Chrisye

September 20

StarCraft: Ghost is a military science fiction stealth-action video game under suspended development by Blizzard Entertainment. Part of Blizzard's StarCraft series, the game was announced on September 20, 2002, and was to be developed by Nihilistic Software for the Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 video game consoles. Several delays in development caused Blizzard to move back the release date and the game has not yet materialized. Nihilistic Software ceded development to Swingin' Ape Studios in 2004 before Blizzard bought the company, and plans for the GameCube version were canceled in 2005. Blizzard announced in March 2006 that the game is on "indefinite hold" while the company investigated seventh generation video game console possibilities. Subsequent public statements from company personnel have been contradictory about whether production will be renewed or planned story elements will be worked into other products. (more...)

Recently featured: The Concert in Central Park – Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve – Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

September 21

The Spanish conquest of Guatemala was a protracted conflict during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, in which Spanish colonizers gradually incorporated the territory that became the modern country of Guatemala into the colonial viceroyalty of New Spain. The Maya kingdoms resisted integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat took almost two centuries. Pedro de Alvarado arrived in Guatemala from the newly conquered Mexico in early 1524, commanding a mixed force of Spanish conquistadors and native allies, mostly from Tlaxcala and Cholula. The Itza Maya and other lowland groups in the Petén Basin were first contacted by Hernán Cortés in 1525, but remained independent and hostile to the encroaching Spanish until 1697, when a concerted Spanish assault led by Martín de Urzúa y Arizmendi finally defeated the last independent Maya kingdom. The indigenous peoples of Guatemala lacked key elements of Old World technology such as a functional wheel, horses, steel and gunpowder; they were also extremely susceptible to Old World diseases, against which they had no resistance. (more...)

Recently featured: StarCraft: Ghost – The Concert in Central Park – Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve

September 22

Mary Martha Sherwood (1775–1851) was a prolific and influential writer of children's literature in 19th-century Britain. She composed over 400 books, tracts, magazine articles, and chapbooks; among the most famous are The History of Little Henry and his Bearer and The History of the Fairchild Family. Sherwood is known primarily for the strong evangelicalism that colored her early writings; however, her later works are characterized by common Victorian themes, such as domesticity. Sherwood's childhood was uneventful, although she recalled it as the happiest part of her life. After she married Captain Henry Sherwood and moved to India, she converted to evangelical Christianity and began to write for children. The Sherwoods returned to England after a decade in India and, building upon her popularity, Sherwood opened a boarding school and published scores of texts for children and the poor. Many of Sherwood's books were bestsellers and she has been described as "one of the most significant authors of children's literature of the nineteenth century." (more...)

Recently featured: Spanish conquest of Guatemala – StarCraft: Ghost – The Concert in Central Park

September 23

The White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average 100–115 cm (39–45 in) from beak tip to end of tail, with a 155–215 cm (61–85 in) wingspan. The two subspecies, which differ slightly in size, breed in Europe (north to Finland), northwestern Africa, southwestern Asia (east to southern Kazakhstan), and southern Africa. The White Stork is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Africa from tropical Sub-Saharan Africa to as far south as South Africa, or on the Indian subcontinent. A carnivore, the White Stork eats a wide range of animal prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, and small birds. It takes most of its food from the ground, among low vegetation, and from shallow water. It is a monogamous breeder, but does not pair for life. This conspicuous bird has given rise to many legends across its range, of which the best-known is the story of babies being brought by storks. (more...)

Recently featured: Mary Martha Sherwood – Spanish conquest of Guatemala – StarCraft: Ghost

September 24

The Osiris myth is the most elaborate and influential story in ancient Egyptian mythology. It concerns the murder of the god Osiris, a primeval king of Egypt, and its consequences. Osiris' murderer, his brother Set, usurps his throne, while Osiris' wife Isis restores her husband's body and posthumously conceives a son, Horus, by him. Horus' triumph over Set restores order to Egypt and completes the process of Osiris' resurrection. The myth is integral to the Egyptian conceptions of kingship and succession, conflict between order and disorder, and especially, death and the afterlife. The Osiris myth reached its essential form in or before the 25th century BC. Parts of the myth appear in a wide variety of Egyptian texts, from funerary texts and magical spells to short stories. The story is, therefore, more detailed and more cohesive than any other ancient Egyptian myth. Greek and Roman writings, particularly De Iside et Osiride by Plutarch, provide more information but may not always accurately reflect Egyptian beliefs. (more...)

Recently featured: White Stork – Mary Martha Sherwood – Spanish conquest of Guatemala

September 25

The lynching of Jesse Washington, a teenage African-American farmhand, in Waco, Texas, in 1916 became a well-known example of racially motivated lynching. After being accused of raping and murdering his employer's wife, he entered a guilty plea and was quickly sentenced to death. After his sentence was pronounced, he was dragged out of the court by observers and lynched in front of Waco's city hall. Over 10,000 spectators, including city officials and police, gathered to watch the attack. Members of the mob castrated Washington, cut off his fingers, and hung him over a bonfire. A professional photographer took pictures as the event unfolded, providing rare imagery of a lynching in progress. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People investigated the event and subsequently featured Washington's death in their anti-lynching campaign. Historians have noted that Washington's death helped alter the way that lynching was viewed; the publicity it received curbed public support for the practice, which became viewed as barbarism rather than an acceptable form of justice. (more...)

Recently featured: Osiris myth – White Stork – Mary Martha Sherwood

September 26

Lettuce is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It was first cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, who turned it from a weed into a plant grown for its leaves. The Greeks and Romans gave it the name "lactuca", from which the modern "lettuce" derives. Varieties developed in Europe in the 16th through 18th centuries can still be found in gardens today. The consumption of lettuce has now spread throughout the world. Lettuce is most often used for salads, but is sometimes seen in other kinds of food. It is a good source of vitamin A and potassium and a minor source of several other vitamins and nutrients. Despite its beneficial properties, lettuce can become contaminated with disease-causing bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella. Lettuce has also gathered religious and medicinal significance. (more...)

Recently featured: Lynching of Jesse Washington – Osiris myth – White Stork

September 27

A toothcomb is a dental structure most commonly known in lemuriform primates (which includes lemurs and lorisoids). Similar dental structures can be found in other mammals, such as colugos, treeshrews, and some African antelopes, but these structures evolved independently through convergent evolution. Toothcombs vary in dental composition and structure. The toothcomb of lemuriform primates include incisors and canine teeth that tilt forward at the front of the lower jaw, followed by a canine-shaped first premolar. The toothcombs in other animals usually have incisors only. The comb is formed by fine spaces between the teeth, although in colugos the individual incisors are serrated, providing multiple tines per tooth. The toothcomb is kept clean by either the tongue or, in the case of lemuriforms, the sublingua, a specialized "under-tongue". The toothcomb is usually used for grooming. While licking the fur clean, the animal will run the toothcomb through the fur to comb it. Fine grooves or striations are usually cut into the teeth during grooming by the hair and may be seen on the sides of the teeth when viewed through a scanning electron microscope. (more...)

Recently featured: Lettuce – Lynching of Jesse Washington – Osiris myth

September 28

Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nye County, in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles (190 km) northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern edge of Death Valley. The town began in early 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after a prospecting discovery in the surrounding hills. During an ensuing gold rush, thousands of gold-seekers, developers, miners, and service providers flocked to the Bullfrog Mining District. Many settled in Rhyolite, which lay in a sheltered desert basin near the region's biggest producer, the Montgomery Shoshone Mine. Rhyolite declined almost as rapidly as it rose. After the richest ore was exhausted, production fell. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the financial Panic of 1907 made raising development capital more difficult. By the end of 1910, the mine was operating at a loss, and it closed in 1911. By this time, many out-of-work miners had moved elsewhere, and Rhyolite's population was close to zero by 1920. After 1920, Rhyolite and its ruins became a tourist attraction and a setting for motion pictures. (more...)

Recently featured: Toothcomb – Lettuce – Lynching of Jesse Washington

September 29

Armillaria luteobubalina is a species of mushroom in the family Physalacriaceae. Widely distributed in southern Australia, the fungus is responsible for a disease known as Armillaria root rot, a primary cause of Eucalyptus tree death and forest dieback. It is the most pathogenic and widespread of the six Armillaria species found in Australia. The fruit bodies, which appear at the base of infected trees and other woody plants in autumn (March–April), are edible, but require cooking to remove the bitter taste. The fungus is dispersed through spores produced on gills on the underside of the caps and by growing vegetatively through the root systems of host trees. Armillaria luteobubalina was first described in 1978, after having been discovered several years earlier growing in a Eucalyptus plantation in southeastern Australia. Studies show that the spread of disease in eucalypt forests is associated with infected stumps left following logging operations. (more...)

Recently featured: Rhyolite, Nevada – Toothcomb – Lettuce

September 30

Nancy Drew is a fictional character in various mystery fiction series. She was created by Edward Stratemeyer and first appeared in 1930. The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Over the decades the character has evolved in response to changes in American culture and tastes. In the 1980s a new series was created, The Nancy Drew Files, which featured an older and more professional Nancy as well as romantic plots. In 2004 the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, begun in 1930, was ended and a new series, Girl Detective, was launched. Illustrations of the character have also evolved over time to reflect the Nancy Drew type in contemporary terms. Through all these changes, the character has proved continuously popular worldwide: at least 80 million copies of the books have been sold, and they have been translated into more than 45 languages. A cultural icon, Nancy Drew has been cited as a formative influence by a number of women. Feminist literary critics have analyzed the character's enduring appeal, arguing variously that Nancy Drew is a mythic hero, an expression of wish fulfillment, or an embodiment of contradictory ideas about femininity. (more...)

Recently featured: Armillaria luteobubalina – Rhyolite, Nevada – Toothcomb