User:Rfl/FeaturedArticle
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[edit] March 31
The New Carissa was a freighter that ran aground on a beach near Coos Bay, Oregon, United States, during a storm in February 1999 and subsequently broke apart. An attempt to tow the bow section of the ship out to sea failed when the tow line broke, and the bow was grounded again. Eventually, the bow was successfully towed out to sea and sunk. The stern section remains on the beach near Coos Bay. Fuel on board the ship was burned off in situ, but a significant amount was also spilled from the wreckage, causing ecological damage to the coastline. The United States Coast Guard performed an investigation and found that captain's error was the main cause of the wreck; however, no criminal liability was established and the captain and crew were not charged. There were significant legal and financial consequences for the ship's owners and insurer. There are plans in place to dismantle the stern section at its current site and remove it from the beach. (more...)
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[edit] April 31
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 31, 2005
[edit] March 31
A bicycle is a pedal-driven land vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame one in front of the other. First introduced in 19th century Europe, it evolved quickly into its current design. With over one billion in the world today, bicycles provide the principal means of transportation in many regions and a popular form of recreation in others. The bicycle has had considerable historical impact, in both the cultural and industrial realms. In its early years, bicycle construction drew on pre-existing technologies, while more recently bicycle technology has contributed in turn to other, newer areas. Beyond recreation and transportation, bicycles have been adapted for use in many occupations, in the military, and in sports and entertainment as well. A recurring theme in bicycling has been the tension between bicyclists and drivers of motor vehicles, each of whom argue for their fair share of the world's roadways.
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[edit] February 31
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 31, 2005
[edit] January 31
Super Mario 64 was one of the first video games released for the Nintendo 64 and was the console's flagship killer application. It debuted in Japan on June 23, 1996 and in the U.S. on September 29, 1996. As the first 3D game in the Mario franchise, Super Mario 64 defined the 3D platformer, much as the franchise's original game, Super Mario Bros., defined the 2D sidescrolling platformer. In leaping from 2D to 3D, Super Mario 64 replaced the linear obstacle courses of traditional platform games with vast worlds where the objective is to collect special items — in this case stars — which are awarded for exploration or successfully carrying out tasks. While doing so, it managed nonetheless to preserve the feel of earlier Mario games, including many game play elements and characters from them.
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[edit] December 31
A planetary nebula is an astronomical object consisting of a roughly spherical glowing shell of gas formed by certain types of stars at the end of their lives. They are in fact unrelated to planets: the name originates from a supposed similarity in appearance to giant planets. They are a short-lived phenomenon, lasting a few thousand years of a typical stellar lifetime of several billion years. About 1,500 are known to exist in our galaxy. Planetary nebulae are important objects in astronomy because they play a crucial role in the chemical evolution of the galaxy, returning material to the interstellar medium which has been enriched in heavy elements by nucleosynthesis. In recent years, Hubble Space Telescope images have revealed many planetary nebulae to have extremely complex and varied morphologies. The mechanisms which produce such a wide variety of shapes and features are not yet well understood.
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[edit] November 31
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 31, 2004
[edit] October 31
The "infinite monkey theorem" is a popular misnomer for an idea from Émile Borel's book on probability, published in 1909. The book introduced the concept of "dactylographic monkeys" seated in front of typewriter keyboards and hitting keys at random. Borel exemplified a proposition in the theory of probability called Kolmogorov's zero-one law by saying that the probability is one that such a monkey will eventually type every book in France's Bibliothèque nationale (national library). There need not be infinitely many monkeys; a single monkey who executes infinitely many keystrokes suffices. Subsequent restatements by other people have replaced the National Library not only with the British Museum but also with the Library of Congress; the most popular retelling says that the monkeys would eventually type out the collected works of William Shakespeare.
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[edit] September 31
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 31, 2004
[edit] September 6
The Warsaw Uprising was an armed struggle during the Second World War by the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw from German occupation and Nazi rule. It started on August 1, 1944 as a part of a nationwide uprising, Operation Tempest. The Polish troops resisted the German-led forces until October 2. An estimated 85% of the city was destroyed during the urban guerrilla war and after the end of hostilities. The Uprising started at a crucial point in the war as the Soviet army was approaching Warsaw. Although the Soviet army was within a few hundred metres of the city from September 16 onward, the link between the uprising and the advancing army was never made. This failure and the reasons behind it have been a matter of controversy ever since.
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[edit] August 31
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese sea explorer who sailed for Spain. He was the first to sail from Europe westwards to Asia, the first European to sail the Pacific Ocean, and the first to lead an expedition for the purpose of circumnavigating the globe. Though Magellan himself died in the East Indies before returning to Europe, some of the crew and fleet he organized and guided for half the journey did return there in 1522, having circumnavigated the globe.
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[edit] July 31
A typewriter is a mechanical, electromechanical or electronic device with a set of "keys" that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on paper. In the late 19th and the start of the 20th century the device operator was sometimes also called a "typewriter", though it then became more common to call the person a "typist". A typewriter has a keyboard, with keys for the characters in its font. The method by which the typewriter actually marks the paper now varies as greatly as types of printers do, but until the end of the 20th century it was by the impact of a metal (or, later, metallized plastic) element against an "inked" ribbon which caused ink to be deposited on the paper.
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[edit] June 31
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 31, 2004
[edit] May 31
Helium is the chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol He and atomic number 2. A colorless, odorless noble gas, helium has the lowest boiling point of any element and can only be solidified under great pressure. This element occurs as a monatomic gas. It is for practical purposes chemically inert. It is the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen. It is found in the Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts from the decay of certain minerals and is present in some mineral waters. Helium occurs in economically extractable amounts in certain natural gases and is used as a lifting gas for balloons and blimps, as a cryogenic cooling liquid for superconducting magnets.
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[edit] April 31
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 31, 2004
[edit] March 31
Superman, also called The Man of Steel, is a fictional character, a superhero, starring in comic books bearing his name from DC Comics. The character has also been in various television series and movies. Superman was born as Kal-el on the planet Krypton. While still a baby he was put into a spaceship alone by his father. The ship launched moments before his home-planet exploded. His spaceship landed on Earth.
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