Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 December 21

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From today's featured article

Edmonds station in Edmonds, Washington, is an Amtrak and Sound Transit passenger train station, with service extending to Oregon, British Columbia, and the American Midwest. A brick building with modernist elements, the station is adjacent to the Edmonds–Kingston ferry terminal and a Community Transit bus station, west of the downtown area. A single platform and a model railroad exhibit are south of the waiting area. The building was opened by the Great Northern Railway in 1957, replacing a 1910 depot. Great Northern merged into Burlington Northern (later BNSF Railway) in 1970, and service to the station ceased when Amtrak took over Burlington Northern's passenger trains in May 1971. Service returned in July 1972 on what are now Amtrak's Cascades and Empire Builder routes. Sound Transit began operating the Sounder North Line to Edmonds station, between Everett and Seattle, on December 21, 2003, and rebuilt the station and transit center in 2011. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Hurricane Ophelia, 2017

... that since 1851, 162 Atlantic hurricanes (example pictured) reached a peak intensity of Category 3 on the Saffir–Simpson scale?
... that Jean-Claude Zehnder, for decades the head of the department for organ at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, has edited organ works by Bach for a recent new edition?
... that Sitaris muralis, a species of blister beetle, is a kleptoparasite of digger bees?
... that Basil Cardew, whose father was killed in a road accident, became one of the pre-eminent motoring journalists in Britain?
... that a documentary which follows Geert Wilders's campaign for Prime Minister of the Netherlands in 2017 compares him to Donald Trump?
... that in 1959, Lois Graham became the first woman in the United States to earn a PhD in mechanical engineering?
... that along with murdering or deporting thousands of Jews and Romani people, Einsatzgruppe H targeted German soldiers suspected of defeatism or homosexuality?
... that when the Pokémon Meltan was first revealed in Pokémon Go, many players thought it was a placeholder revealed by a glitch?

In the news

The Balangiga bells

In field hockey, the World Cup concludes with Belgium defeating the Netherlands in the final.
The Balangiga bells (pictured), taken by US Army soldiers from the Philippines in 1901 as war trophies, are repatriated.
Nine people are killed when a high-speed train collides with a locomotive in Ankara, Turkey.
Two days after a shooting at the Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, in which five people died, French police kill the suspected perpetrator.

On this day

December 21: December solstice (22:23 UTC, 2018); Yule (Modern Paganism and Wicca); Yaldā Night in Iran

The crew of Apollo 8

1620 – The Mayflower Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, establishing the Plymouth Colony.
1872 – HMS Challenger sailed from Portsmouth, England, on a scientific expedition, making many discoveries that laid the foundation of oceanography.
1968 – Apollo 8 launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a trajectory to the Moon, for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
1988 – A total of 270 people were killed when a bomb on board Pan Am Flight 103 exploded while the plane was in flight over Lockerbie, Scotland.
1994 – Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano, dormant for 47 years, began erupting, and is now one of the nation's most active volcanoes.

Maud Gonne (b. 1866) · Iris Cummings (b. 1920) · Louis Washkansky (d. 1967)

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From today's featured list

Charles Kingsford Smith

The Segrave Trophy is awarded to the British national who demonstrates "Outstanding Skill, Courage and Initiative on Land, Water and in the Air". The trophy is named in honour of Sir Henry Segrave, the first person to hold both the land and water speed records simultaneously. The trophy, designed by sculptor Gilbert Bayes, is awarded by the Royal Automobile Club. It has been awarded in most years since 1930; it is not presented if, in the opinion of the committee, no achievement has been sufficient to deserve the award. The inaugural recipient of the Segrave Trophy was Australian-born Charles Kingsford Smith (pictured) who flew solo from Ireland to Newfoundland, across the Atlantic, in just over 31 hours. He also won the 1930 England to Australia air race, covering the distance solo in 13 days. A subsidiary award, the Segrave Medal, may also be given to those individuals who have "played a fundamental role in helping the Segrave Trophy winner to achieve their goal". (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Wilton Diptych is a small portable diptych of two Baltic oak panels, painted on both sides, set in frames of the same material and joined by two hinges. Dating from around 1395–1399, it is an extremely rare survival of a late Medieval religious panel painting from England. The diptych was painted for King Richard II, who is depicted kneeling before the Virgin and Child in what is known as a donor portrait. He is presented to them by his patron saint, John the Baptist, and by the English royal saints Edward the Confessor and Edmund the Martyr. The inner faces of the panels are in excellent condition for their age, though some glazes have been lost, but the outer faces have paint losses from handling.

This picture shows the lefthand panel of the inside of the diptych, with Richard II and the saints.

See also: the righthand inside panel, showing the Virgin and Child.

Painting: Unknown English or French painter from the 1390s

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