Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 May 7

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From today's featured article

The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Russian-American author Ayn Rand. The protagonist, Howard Roark, is an individualistic young architect who designs modernist buildings and refuses to compromise with an architectural establishment unwilling to accept innovation. Roark embodies what Rand believed to be the ideal man, and his struggle reflects Rand's belief that individualism is superior to collectivism. Twelve publishers rejected the manuscript before an editor at the Bobbs-Merrill Company risked his job to get it published. Contemporary reviewers' opinions were mixed. Some praised the novel as a powerful paean to individualism, while others thought it overlong and lacking sympathetic characters. Initial sales were slow, but the book gained a following by word of mouth. It became a bestseller, and more than 6.5 million copies have been sold worldwide. The novel was Rand's first major literary success and has had a lasting influence, especially among architects and right-libertarians. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Otsego in 1943

... that prior to their naval service, USS Otsego (pictured in later army service) escaped destruction in an earthquake, and USS Philippines survived three weeks of storms at sea without a rudder?
... that Li Zhengyou, vice-governor of Yunnan province, was also a pioneer in the research of high-altitude hybrid rice?
... that California's Senate Bill 827 would have affected 96 percent of land in San Francisco?
... that at the age of 79 years and 9 months, Robert Pitcairn became the oldest athlete to debut in a Commonwealth Games event?
... that the endangered New Zealand shrub Muehlenbeckia astonii is also known as zig zag plant and wiggy-wig bush?
... that Gaboimilla, a mythical Chilean queen, is said to have allowed men into her kingdom only for procreation?
... that the British jazz-funk band Jamiroquai gave a performance on an aircraft travelling at 1017 km/h (632 mph), setting the Guinness World Record for "fastest concert"?
... that Poulsbo Bread was inspired by a recipe described in the Book of Ezekiel?

In the news

Artist's rendering of the InSight lander

In American horse racing, Justify wins the Kentucky Derby, ridden by jockey Mike Smith.
The InSight spacecraft (rendering pictured) and its companion MarCO cubesats are successfully launched towards Mars.
The eruption of Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano, and the subsequent earthquake, forces the evacuation of nearly two thousand people.
The awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature is postponed until 2019.

On this day...

May 7

Alexander Stepanovich Popov

1697 – Stockholm's royal castle, dating back to the 13th century, was destroyed in a huge fire; the blueprint for the current royal palace was presented within a year.
1895 – Alexander Stepanovich Popov (pictured) presented his radio receiver, refined as a lightning detector, to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society.
1931 – New York City Police engaged in a two-hour-long shootout with Francis Crowley that was witnessed by 15,000 bystanders before he finally surrendered.
1960 – Cold War: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced that his country was holding American pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union six days earlier.
2010 – A team of researchers presented a complete draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome, demonstrating that today's modern humans have Neanderthal ancestors.

Bajo Pivljanin (d. 1685) · William Bainbridge (b. 1774) · Rendra Karno (b. 1920)

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From today's featured list

The Sudan Block of NDA

The Indian National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint services academy of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three armed forces (the Army, the Navy and the Air Force) train together before beginning pre-commission training at their respective service academies (Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy, for army, navy, and air force cadets respectively). Established in 1954 and located in the vicinity of Khadakwasla Dam, near Pune, it is the world's first tri-service academy. The alumni of National Defence Academy have led and participated in every major conflict in which the Indian Armed Forces have been called into action since the academy was founded. Alumni include three Param Vir Chakra recipients and eleven Ashoka Chakra recipients. The NDA has produced 30 service chiefs of staff, including the incumbent chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

I am Half-Sick of Shadows, said the Lady of Shalott is an oil painting on canvas completed by John William Waterhouse in 1916. One of three works inspired by Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shalott", it depicts the ballad's titular character as she stops weaving, shortly before looking directly upon the world outside her window for the first time. The painting is now held at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

Painting: John William Waterhouse

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