Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 March 2

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From today's featured article

Maggie Gyllenhaal (born 1977) is an American actress. She started out appearing in films directed by her father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, and achieved recognition in a supporting role in the indie cult film Donnie Darko (2001), which starred her brother, Jake Gyllenhaal. Her first critically acclaimed role was in Secretary (2002); she received Golden Globe nominations for this film and Sherrybaby (2006). She appeared in the romantic comedy Trust The Man (2006) and such big-budget films as World Trade Center (2006) and The Dark Knight (2008). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Jean Craddock in the musical-drama Crazy Heart (2009). She appeared in the theatrical play Closer (2000) and in the television production The Honourable Woman (2014), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. Gyllenhaal is an active Democrat and a supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Before the US-led invasion of Iraq she participated in anti-war demonstrations, and she is active in causes involving human rights, civil liberties, poverty and education. She is married to actor Peter Sarsgaard. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that Aleen Cust (pictured) was the first female vet recognised by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in Ireland and the United Kingdom?
... that Atma Upanishad tells about three types of "Self"?
... that after members of the Artists Union occupied the New York Federal Art Project offices in 1936, police arrested 219 of them, the largest-ever arrest in the city?
... that Anastasia Gosteva's fantastic tale Большой взрыв и черепахи (2006), translated by Boris Meshcheryakov as Big Bang and Turtles, has been published by UNESCO online?
... that approximately $40 million was spent on marketing Game of War: Fire Age?
... that the 2013 Ontario budget repealed a sales tax sunset provision so that the government could collect tax debts?
... that model and actress Pia Miller is the first Australian celebrity tourism ambassador for Chile?
... that Harveys Lake, the largest natural lake in Pennsylvania by volume, was discovered by accident?

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In the news

Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov (pictured) is assassinated in Moscow.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission votes to reclassify Internet broadband as a utility, enforcing net neutrality rules for the service.
Avijit Roy, a secularist activist and blogger, is murdered in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
British soldier Joshua Leakey is awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in the war in Afghanistan.
A gunman kills eight people and commits suicide in the Czech town of Uherský Brod.
Birdman wins four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, at the Academy Awards.

Ongoing: Boko Haram – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – War in Ukraine
Recent deaths: Minnie Miñoso – Leonard Nimoy

On this day...

March 2: The Nineteen Day Fast begins (Bahá'í Faith); Casimir Pulaski Day in Illinois (2015)

1484 – The College of Arms, one of the few remaining official heraldic authorities in Europe, was established by royal charter in London.
1791 – French inventor Claude Chappe and his brothers first demonstrated the semaphore line, a signalling system of conveying information by means of visual signals, using towers (replica pictured) with pivoting shutters, also known as blades or paddles.
1937 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, precursor to the United Steel Workers of America, made a dramatic breakthrough when it signed a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel.
1965 – Vietnam War: The American and South Vietnamese air forces began Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam that eventually became the most intense air/ground battle waged during the Cold War period.
1978 – Aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 28, Czech Vladimír Remek became the first person not from the Soviet Union or the United States to go into space.

More anniversaries: March 1 – March 2 – March 3

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It is now March 2, 2015 (UTC) – Reload this page

From today's featured list

Approximately 57 people have been head of the Russian government since its establishment in 1726. The chairman of government was a member of the Supreme Privy Council, which was created on 8 (19) February 1726 by Empress Catherine, and from 8 (20) September 1802 ministerial duties were allocated by the Committee of Ministers. Beginning with Count Aleksandr Romanovich Vorontsov, the eldest of the officers was de facto chairman of the committee. Eight years after the inauguration of the manifest, the first de jure office holder was Count Nikolay Rumyantsev. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin, as the President of the Russian Federation, was automatically appointed as the Head of Government of the Russian Federation in the first two years of his mandate. The latter body took the name "Council of Ministers", the chairman of which became Viktor Chernomyrdin from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. According to the new constitution ratified on 25 December 1993, those two entities were separated. Since then, the head of that office takes the formal title "Chairmen of the Government" or colloquially "Prime Minister". Dmitry Medvedev (pictured) has been the Chairman of the Government since 8 May 2012. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

A portrait of a snow leopard (Panthera uncia) at the Rheintal Zoo in Germany. This species of big cat in the genus Panthera is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. The snow leopard's adaptations for life in a cold, mountainous environment include a stocky body, thick fur, small rounded ears to minimize heat loss, and a short muzzle with unusually large nasal cavities that help the animal breathe the cold, thin air.

Photograph: Tambako The Jaguar

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