Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 2012

Today's featured article archive

February 1

The Germany women's national football team represents Germany in international women's football and is directed by the German Football Association (DFB). The team, initially called "West Germany" in informal English, played its first international match in 1982. After German reunification in 1990, the DFB squad remained the national team of the Federal Republic of Germany. The German national team is one of the most successful in women's football. They are two-time world champions, having won the 2003 and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Germany is the only nation which has won both the men's and the women's World Cup. The team has won seven of the ten UEFA European Championships, claiming the last five titles in a row. Germany has won three bronze medals at the Women's Olympic Football Tournament, finishing third in 2000, 2004 and 2008. The popularity of the women's national football team has grown since the team won their first World Cup title. They were chosen as Germany's Sports Team of the Year in 2003. Silvia Neid has been the team's head coach since 2005, succeeding Tina Theune after nine years as her assistant. As of September 2011, Germany is ranked No. 2 in the FIFA Women's World Rankings. (more...)

Recently featured: Liberty Head nickel – Cyathus – Battle of Rennell Island

February 2

Chew Stoke is a small village and civil parish in the Chew Valley, in Somerset, England, about 8 miles (13 km) south of Bristol. It is at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, a region designated by the United Kingdom as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is within the Bristol/Bath green belt. The parish includes the hamlet of Breach Hill, which is approximately 2 miles (3 km) southwest of Chew Stoke itself. Chew Stoke has a long history, as shown by the number and range of its heritage-listed buildings. The village is at the northern end of Chew Valley Lake, which was created in the 1950s, close to a dam, pumping station, sailing club, and fishing lodge. A tributary of the River Chew, which rises in Strode, runs through the village. The population of 905 is served by one shop, two public houses, a primary school and a bowling club. Together with Chew Magna, it forms the ward of Chew Valley North in the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset. Chew Valley School and its associated leisure centre are less than a mile (1.6 km) from Chew Stoke. The village has some areas of light industry but is largely agricultural; many residents commute to nearby cities for employment. (more...)

Recently featured: German women's national football team – Liberty Head nickel – Cyathus

February 3

Pathways into Darkness is a first-person adventure video game developed and published by Bungie Software Products Corporation (now Bungie) in 1993, exclusively for Apple Macintosh personal computers. Players assume the role of a Special Forces soldier who must stop a powerful, godlike being from awakening and destroying the world. Players solve puzzles and defeat enemies to unlock parts of a pyramid where the god sleeps; the game's ending changes depending on player actions. Pathways began as a sequel to Bungie's Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete, before the developers created an original story. Jason Jones programmed the game, while his friend Colin Brent developed the environments and creatures. The game features three-dimensional texture mapped graphics and stereo sound on supported Macintosh models. Pathways was critically acclaimed and won a host of awards; it was also Bungie's first major commercial success, enabling the two-man team of Jason Jones and Alex Seropian to move into a Chicago office and begin paying staff. (more...)

Recently featured: Chew Stoke – German women's national football team – Liberty Head nickel

February 4

Richard Barre (c. 1130 – c. 1202) was a medieval English justice, clergyman, and scholar. He was educated at the law school of Bologna, and entered royal service under King Henry II of England, later working for Henry's son and successor Richard I. He was also briefly in the household of Henry's son Henry the Young King. Barre served the elder Henry as a diplomat, and was involved in a minor way with the king's quarrel with Thomas Becket, which earned Barre a condemnation from Becket. After King Henry's death, Barre became a royal justice during Richard's reign, and was one of the main judges in the period from 1194 to 1199. During the reign of King John, Barre was no longer employed as a judge owing to earlier disagreements with John. Barre was the author of a work of biblical extracts dedicated to one of his patrons, William Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely and Chancellor of England. (more...)

Recently featured: Pathways into Darkness – Chew Stoke – Germany women's national football team

February 5

Titania is the largest of the moons of Uranus and the eighth largest moon in the Solar System. Discovered by William Herschel in 1787, Titania is named after the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Its orbit lies inside Uranus' magnetosphere. Titania consists of approximately equal amounts of ice and rock, and is likely differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle. A layer of liquid water may be present at the core–mantle boundary. The surface of Titania, which is relatively dark and slightly red in color, appears to have been shaped by both impacts and endogenic processes. It is covered by numerous impact craters reaching 326 km in diameter, but is less heavily cratered than the surface of Uranus' outermost moon, Oberon. Titania probably underwent an early endogenic resurfacing event that obliterated its older, heavily cratered surface. Like all major moons of Uranus, Titania probably formed from an accretion disk that surrounded the planet just after its formation. As of 2011, the Uranian system has been studied up close only once: by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in January 1986. It took several images of Titania, which allowed mapping of about 40% of the moon’s surface. (more...)

Recently featured: Richard Barre – Pathways into Darkness – Chew Stoke

February 6

Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854–1921) was a German prince related to the British Royal Family. After a career in the United Kingdom's Royal Navy lasting over forty years, in 1912 he was appointed First Sea Lord, the professional head of the British naval service. He took steps to ready the British fleet for combat as World War I began, but his background as a German prince forced his retirement at the start of the war when anti-German feeling was running high. Queen Victoria and her son King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, occasionally intervened in his career—the Queen thought that there was "a belief that the Admiralty are afraid of promoting Officers who are Princes on account of the radical attacks of low papers and scurrilous ones". However, Louis welcomed battle assignments that provided opportunities for him to acquire the skills of war and to demonstrate to his superiors that he was serious about his naval career. Posts on royal yachts and tours arranged by the Queen and Edward actually impeded his progress, as his promotions were perceived as royal favours rather than deserved. He married a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and was the father of Earl Mountbatten, who also served as First Sea Lord from 1954 to 1959. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II, is his grandson. (more...)

Recently featured: Titania – Richard Barre – Pathways into Darkness

February 7

"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" is the pilot episode of the animated television series South Park. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on August 13, 1997. The episode introduces child protagonists Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh and Kenny McCormick, who attempt to rescue Kyle's younger brother Ike from being abducted by aliens. At the time of the writing of the episode, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone did not yet have a series contract with Comedy Central. Short on money, the creators animated the episode using paper cutout stop motion technique, similar to the short films that were the precursors to the series. As such, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" remains the only South Park episode animated largely without the use of computer technology. Part of a reaction to the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s in the United States, South Park is deliberately offensive. Much of the show's humor, and of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", arises from the juxtaposition of the seeming innocence of childhood and the violent, crude behavior exhibited by the main characters. The episode also exemplifies the carnivalesque, which includes humor, bodily excess, linguistic games that challenge official discourse, and the inversion of social structures. Initial reviews of the episode were generally negative; critics singled out the gratuitous obscenity of the show for particular scorn. Regarding the amount of obscenity in the episode, Parker later commented that they felt "pressure" to live up to the earlier shorts which first made the duo popular. (more...)

Recently featured: Prince Louis of Battenberg – Titania – Richard Barre

February 8

The Vijayanagara Empire was an empire based in South India in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts by the southern powers to ward off Islamic invasions by the end of the 13th century. It lasted until 1646 although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan sultanates. The empire is named after its capital city of Vijayanagara (pictured), whose impressive ruins surround modern Hampi, now a World Heritage Site in modern Karnataka, India. The writings of medieval European travelers such as Domingo Paes, Fernão Nunes and Niccolò Da Conti and the literature in local vernaculars provide crucial information about its history. The empire's legacy includes many monuments spread over South India, the best known being the group at Hampi. Secular royal structures show the influence of the Northern Deccan Sultanate architecture. Efficient administration and vigorous overseas trade brought new technologies like water management systems for irrigation. The empire's patronage enabled fine arts and literature to reach new heights in the languages of Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit, while Carnatic music evolved into its current form. The Vijayanagara Empire created an epoch in South Indian history that transcended regionalism by promoting Hinduism as a unifying factor. (more...)

Recently featured: "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" – Prince Louis of Battenberg – Titania

February 9

Two different articles ran as TFA on this date: see Wikipedia:Today's featured article oddities for more. Until 17:27 UTC, the TFA was this:

Frederick Russell Burnham (1861–1947) was an American scout and world traveling adventurer known for his service to the British Army in colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell, thus becoming one of the inspirations for the founding of the international Scouting Movement. Burnham had little formal education, attending high school but never graduating. He began his career at 14 in the American Southwest as a scout and tracker for the U.S. Army in the Apache Wars and Cheyenne Wars. Sensing the Old West was getting too tame, as an adult Burnham went to Africa where this background proved useful. He soon became an officer in the British Army, serving in several battles there. During this time, Burnham became friends with Baden-Powell, and passed on to him both his outdoor skills and his spirit for what would later become known as Scouting. Burnham eventually moved on to become involved in espionage, oil, conservation, writing and business. His descendants are still active in Scouting. (more...)

From 17:27 UTC, the TFA was this:

Hurricane Nate was an Atlantic hurricane that threatened Bermuda but remained at sea during early September 2005. The fourteenth named storm and seventh hurricane of the 2005 season, Hurricane Nate formed to the southwest of Bermuda on September 5 and initially moved very slowly to the northeast. Early forecasts suggested a possible threat to the island, but Nate passed well to the south on September 8 as a Category 1 hurricane. After moving away from the island, wind shear increased and the storm moved into cooler waters, causing it to weaken into a tropical storm before becoming extratropical on September 10. The storm was later absorbed by a larger weather system. The storm caused no reported damage although one death was reported off the New Jersey coast due to related rip currents. Nate dropped light rainfall and produced gusty winds on the island of Bermuda. The remnants of Nate and Hurricane Maria contributed to heavy rainfall in Western Norway that triggered a mudslide, killing one person. Canadian Navy ships en route to the U.S. Gulf Coast, carrying relief supplies to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, were slowed while trying to avoid Hurricanes Nate and Ophelia. (more...)

Recently featured: Vijayanagara Empire – "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" – Prince Louis of Battenberg

February 10

Willow Lake, located in the Big Butte Creek watershed

Big Butte Creek is a 12-mile (19 km) long tributary of the Rogue River located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains approximately 245 square miles (630 km²) of Jackson County. The north fork of the creek begins on Rustler Peak and the south fork's headwaters are near Mount McLoughlin. They meet near Butte Falls, and Big Butte Creek flows generally northwest until it empties into the Rogue River about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Lost Creek Dam (William L. Jess Dam). Big Butte Creek's watershed was originally settled over 8,000 years ago by the Klamath, Upper Umpqua, and Takelma tribes of Native Americans. In the Rogue River Wars of the 1850s, most of the Native Americans were either killed or forced into Indian reservations. The first non-indigenous settlers arrived in the 1860s, and the area was quickly developed. The creek was named after Snowy Butte, an early name for Mount McLoughlin. In the late 19th century, the watershed was primarily used for agriculture and logging. The small city of Butte Falls was incorporated in 1911. (more...)

Recently featured: Hurricane Nate – Vijayanagara Empire – "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe"

February 11

Trevor Linden playing for the Vancouver Canucks

Trevor Linden (born 1970) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player. He played centre and right wing with four teams: the Vancouver Canucks (in two stints), New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals. In addition to appearing in two NHL All-Star Games, Linden was a member of the 1998 Canadian Olympic team and participated in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. Throughout his career, Linden has been recognized as a respected leader on and off the ice. He was named captain of the Canucks at the age of 21, making him one of the youngest captains in league history. While captaining the Canucks, Linden led the team to within a game of winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. It was during this time that he began to be called Captain Canuck. In 1998 he was elected President of the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), a position he held for eight years. As President, he played an instrumental role in the 2004–05 NHL lockout, including negotiations with league owners. After 19 seasons in the NHL, Linden retired on June 11, 2008, twenty years to the day after he was drafted into the NHL. Linden's jersey number 16 was retired by the Canucks on December 17, 2008, the second number retired by the team. (more...)

Recently featured: Big Butte Creek – Hurricane Nate – Vijayanagara Empire

February 12

The cover of the first edition of The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane. Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound—a "red badge of courage"—to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy, Henry acts as standard-bearer. Although Crane was born after the war, and had not at the time experienced battle firsthand, the novel is known for its realism. He began writing what would become his second novel in 1893, using various contemporary and written accounts (such as those published previously by Century Magazine) as inspiration. It is believed that he based the fictional battle on that of Chancellorsville; he may also have interviewed veterans of the 124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commonly known as the Orange Blossoms. Initially shortened and serialized in newspapers in December 1894, the novel was published in full in October 1895. Several of the themes that the story explores are maturation, heroism, cowardice, and the indifference of nature. Adapted several times for the screen, the novel became a bestseller. It has never been out of print, and is now thought to be Crane's most important work and a major American text. (more...)

Recently featured: Trevor Linden – Big Butte Creek – Hurricane Nate

February 13

Play the "Berceuse" from Dolly

The piano music of Gabriel Fauré is among his best known work. Written between the 1860s and the 1920s, Fauré's major sets of piano works are thirteen nocturnes, thirteen barcarolles, six impromptus and four valses-caprices. These sets display the change in his style, over the decades, from uncomplicated youthful charm to a final enigmatic but sometimes fiery introspection, by way of a turbulent period in his middle years. His other notable piano pieces, including shorter works, or collections composed or published as a set, are Romances sans paroles, Ballade in F♯ major, Mazurka in B♭ major, Thème et variations in C♯ major, and Huit pièces brèves. For piano duet, Fauré composed the Dolly Suite and, together with his friend and former pupil André Messager, an exuberant parody of Wagner in the short suite Souvenirs de Bayreuth. Much of the ambidextrous Fauré's piano music is difficult to play, but it is rarely virtuoso in style. The composer disliked showy display, and the predominant characteristic of his piano music is a classical restraint and understatement. (more...)

Recently featured: The Red Badge of Courage – Trevor Linden – Big Butte Creek

February 14

The Cattle Egret is a cosmopolitan species of heron (family Ardeidae) found in the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones. Despite similarities in plumage to the egrets of the genus Egretta, it is more closely related to the herons, Ardea. Originally native to parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, it has undergone a rapid expansion in its distribution and successfully colonised much of the rest of the world. It is a white bird, adorned with buff plumes in the breeding season, and nests in colonies, usually near bodies of water and often with other wading birds. The nest is a platform of sticks in a tree or shrub. Unlike most other herons, it feeds in relatively dry grassy habitats, often accompanying cattle or other large mammals, since it catches insects and small vertebrates disturbed by these animals. Some populations of the Cattle Egret are migratory and others show post-breeding dispersal. The adult Cattle Egret has few predators, but birds or mammals may raid its nests, and chicks may be lost to starvation, calcium deficiency or disturbance from other large birds. This species removes ticks and flies from cattle, but it can be a safety hazard at airfields, and has been implicated in the spread of tick-borne animal diseases. (more...)

Recently featured: Piano music of Gabriel Fauré – The Red Badge of Courage – Trevor Linden

February 15

Tom Driberg (1905–1976) was a British journalist and politician who was a Labour Party Member of Parliament between 1942 and 1974. On retirement he was raised to the peerage, with the title of Baron Bradwell. After his death (grave pictured), allegations were published about his long-term role as an MI5 informant, a KGB agent, or both; however, the extent of his involvement with these agencies remains uncertain. Driberg never held ministerial office, although he rose to senior positions within the Labour Party and was a popular and influential figure in left-wing politics for many years. After leaving Christ Church, Oxford, in 1927 he joined the Daily Express and in 1933 began the "William Hickey" society column; he later contributed regularly to various left-leaning journals. As a biographer his subjects included the press baron Lord Beaverbrook and the fugitive British diplomat Guy Burgess. Driberg was a homosexual whose risky and often brazen behaviour frequently shocked or amused his colleagues. His friends included respected figures from literature and politics alongside outsiders such as the black magic practitioner Aleister Crowley and the Kray twins. Throughout his life he maintained an unvarying devotion to Anglo-Catholicism. (more...)

Recently featured: Cattle Egret – Piano music of Gabriel Fauré – The Red Badge of Courage

February 16

The Leopard 2E is a variant of the German Leopard 2 main battle tank, tailored to the requirements of the Spanish army, which acquired it as part of an armament modernization program named Programa Coraza. The acquisition program for the Leopard 2E began in 1994, five years after the cancellation of the Lince tank program resulted in an agreement to transfer 108 Leopard 2A4s to the Spanish army in 1998 and begin the local production of the Leopard 2E in December 2003. Despite production delays due to the 2003 merger between Santa Bárbara Sistemas and General Dynamics and continued fabrication issues between 2006 and 2007, 219 Leopard 2Es have been delivered to the Spanish army. The Leopard 2E replaced the M60 Patton tank in Spain's mechanized and armored units. Its development represented a total of 2.6 million hours worth of work, 9,600 of them in Germany, at a total cost of 1.9 billion euros. It has thicker armor on the turret and glacis plate than the German Leopard 2A6, and uses a Spanish-designed tank command and control system, similar to the one fitted in German Leopard 2s. The Leopard 2E is expected to remain in service until 2025. (more...)

Recently featured: Tom Driberg – Cattle Egret – Piano music of Gabriel Fauré

February 17

Abbas Kiarostami at the 65th Venice Film Festival in 2008

Abbas Kiarostami (born 1940) is an internationally acclaimed Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries. Kiarostami attained critical acclaim for directing the Koker Trilogy (1987–94), Taste of Cherry (1997), and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). Kiarostami has worked extensively as a screenwriter, film editor, art director and producer and has designed credit titles and publicity material. He is also a poet, photographer, painter, illustrator, and graphic designer. Kiarostami is part of a generation of filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave, a Persian cinema movement that started in the late 1960s and includes pioneering directors such as Forough Farrokhzad, Sohrab Shahid Saless, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Bahram Beizai, and Parviz Kimiavi. These filmmakers share many common techniques including the use of poetic dialogue and allegorical storytelling dealing with political and philosophical issues. Kiarostami has a reputation for using child protagonists, for documentary style narrative films, for stories that take place in rural villages, and for conversations that unfold inside cars, using stationary mounted cameras. (more...)

Recently featured: Leopard 2E – Tom Driberg – Cattle Egret

February 18

Baldwin of Forde (c. 1125 – 1190) was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1185 and 1190. The son of a clergyman, he studied canon law and theology at Bologna and was tutor to Pope Eugene III's nephew before returning to England to serve successive bishops of Exeter. After becoming a Cistercian monk he was named abbot of his monastery, and subsequently elected to the episcopate at Worcester. Before becoming a bishop, he wrote theological works and sermons, some of which have survived. As a bishop Baldwin came to the attention of King Henry II of England, who was so impressed he insisted that Baldwin become archbishop. In that office, Baldwin quarrelled with his cathedral clergy over the founding of a church, which led to the imprisonment of the clergy in their cloister for more than a year. Baldwin spent some time in Wales with Gerald of Wales, preaching and raising money for the Third Crusade. After the coronation of King Richard I of England, the new king sent Baldwin ahead to the Holy Land, where he became embroiled in the politics of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Baldwin died in the Holy Land while participating in the crusade; his long-running dispute with his clergy led one chronicler to characterise Baldwin as more damaging to Christianity than Saladin. (more...)

Recently featured: Abbas Kiarostami – Leopard 2E – Tom Driberg

February 19

New York State Route 28 is a state highway extending for 281.69 miles (453.34 km) in the shape of a "C" between the Hudson Valley city of Kingston and southern Warren County in the U.S. state of New York. Along the way, it intersects several major routes, including Interstate 88 (I-88), U.S. Route 20 (US 20), and the New York State Thruway twice. The southern terminus of NY 28 is at NY 32 in Kingston and the northern terminus is US 9 in Warrensburg. NY 28 was originally assigned in 1924 to an alignment extending from Colliersville in the south to Utica in the north via Ilion. From Colliersville to Cooperstown, the highway followed its current routing (excluding minor realignments); north of Cooperstown, NY 28 was routed along several state highways that now have other designations. The route was extended south to Kingston and north to Warrensburg as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. At the same time, Route 28 was realigned between Cooperstown and Mohawk to follow its modern routing. (more...)

Recently featured: Baldwin of Forde – Abbas Kiarostami – Leopard 2E

February 20

Pfluger Fountain at Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the seventh largest student body in the state of Texas. With 1,839 acres (7.44 km²), it has the second largest contiguous campus in the United States and is the only school in Texas to house an undergraduate institution, law school, and medical school at the same location. The university offers degrees in more than 150 courses of study through 13 colleges and hosts 60 research centers and institutes. The Carnegie Foundation classifies Texas Tech as having "high research activity". The Texas Tech Red Raiders are charter members of the Big 12 Conference and compete in Division I for all varsity sports. (more...)

Recently featured: New York State Route 28 – Baldwin of Forde – Abbas Kiarostami

February 21

St Nicholas is the Anglican parish church of Blakeney, Norfolk, in the deanery of Holt and the Diocese of Norwich. It stands just inland from, and about 30 m (100 ft) above, the small port. Of the original 13th-century building only the chancel remains, the rest having been rebuilt in the prosperous 15th century; the chancel may have survived owing to its link to the nearby friary. Unusual architectural features include a second tower, used as a beacon, at its east end, a stepped seven-light window in the chancel, and a hammerbeam roof in the nave. Much of the original church furniture was lost in the Reformation, but a late-Victorian restoration recreated something of the original appearance, as well as repairing and refacing the building. Nine Arts and Crafts windows by James Powell and Sons are featured on the east and south sides of the church, and the north porch has two modern blue-themed windows. St Nicholas contains some notable memorials, including several plaques for the Blakeney lifeboats and their crews, and much pre-Reformation graffiti, particularly depictions of ships. (more...)

Recently featured: Texas Tech University – New York State Route 28 – Baldwin of Forde

February 22

The Nyon Conference was a diplomatic conference held in Nyon, Switzerland, in September 1937 to address attacks on international shipping in the Mediterranean Sea during the Spanish Civil War. The conference was convened in part because Italy had been carrying out unrestricted submarine warfare, although the final conference agreement did not accuse Italy directly; instead, the attacks were referred to as "piracy" by an unidentified body. Italy was not officially at war, nor did any submarine identify itself. The conference was designed to strengthen non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War. The United Kingdom and France led the conference, which was also attended by Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Romania, Turkey, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The first agreement, signed on 14 September, included plans to counterattack aggressive submarines. Naval patrols were established; the United Kingdom and France were to patrol most of the western Mediterranean and parts of the east, and the other signatories were to patrol their own waters. Italy was to be allowed to join the agreement and patrol the Tyrrhenian Sea if it wished. A second agreement followed three days later, applying similar provisions to surface ships. Italy and Nazi Germany did not attend, although the former did take up naval patrols in November. In marked contrast to the Non-Intervention Committee and the League of Nations, this conference did succeed in preventing attacks by submarines. (more...)

Recently featured: St Nicholas – Texas Tech University – New York State Route 28

February 23

W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) was an American civil rights activist, author, and editor. After graduating from Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology, and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois, one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagara Movement, a group of African-American activists who wanted equal rights for blacks. Racism was the main target of Du Bois's polemics, and he strongly protested against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination in education and employment. He was a proponent of Pan-Africanism and helped organize efforts to free African colonies from European powers. Du Bois wrote several seminal essays and treatises, and published many influential pieces in his role as editor of the NAACP's journal The Crisis. He was an ardent peace activist and advocated nuclear disarmament. The United States' Civil Rights Act, embodying many of the reforms for which Du Bois had campaigned his entire life, was enacted a year after his death. (more...)

Recently featured: Nyon Conference – St Nicholas – Texas Tech University

February 24

Malmö FF are a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö. The club play their home matches at Swedbank Stadion. Formed on 24 February 1910, the club have won sixteen national championship titles and fourteen Svenska Cupen titles, making them the most successful club in Sweden in terms of total trophies won. Malmö FF have also won the top tier league, Allsvenskan, on three occasions when the title of Swedish champions was not decided by the outcome of that league. They were the runners-up in the 1978–79 European Cup final, which they lost 1–0 to English club Nottingham Forest. This feat makes them the only Scandinavian club to have made it to the final of the most prestigious club competition in European football, presently named the UEFA Champions League. The club currently play in Allsvenskan; Malmö first won this league in 1944 and most recently in the club's centennial anniversary in 2010. The team were most successful during the 1970s, when they won five Swedish championships and four national cup titles. (more...)

Recently featured: W. E. B. Du Bois – Nyon Conference – St Nicholas

February 25

"Hey Baby" is a song written by Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont, and Bounty Killer for Rock Steady (2001), the fifth studio album by No Doubt (pictured). Released as the album's lead single in October 2001, the song is heavily influenced by the Jamaican dancehall music present at No Doubt's post-show parties and tour bus lounges of their Return of Saturn tour. Its lyrics describe the debauchery with groupies at these parties. The song received positive reviews from music critics, though the song's dancehall influences had a mixed reception. The single was commercially successful and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. At the 45th Grammy Awards, "Hey Baby" won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. (more...)

Recently featured: Malmö FF – W. E. B. Du Bois – Nyon Conference

February 26

Alboin (530s–572) was king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572. During his reign the Lombards ended their migrations by settling in Italy. He had a lasting impact on Italy and the Pannonian Basin. The period of Alboin's reign as king in Pannonia following the death of his father, Audoin, was one of confrontation and conflict between the Lombards and their main neighbours, the Gepids. The Gepids initially gained the upper hand, but in 567, thanks to his alliance with the Avars, Alboin inflicted a decisive defeat on his enemies, whose lands the Avars subsequently occupied. The increasing power of his new neighbours caused Alboin some unease however, and he therefore decided to leave Pannonia for Italy, hoping to take advantage of the Byzantine Empire's reduced ability to defend its territory in the wake of the Gothic War. After succeeding in gathering together a large coalition of peoples, Alboin began his trek in 568. After crossing the Julian Alps he entered an almost undefended Italy, and rapidly took control of most of Venetia and Liguria. In 569, unopposed, he took northern Italy's main city, Milan. Pavia offered stiff resistance however, and was only taken after a siege lasting three years. During that time Alboin turned his attention to Tuscany, but signs of factionalism among his supporters and Alboin's diminishing control over his army increasingly began to manifest themselves. Alboin was assassinated on June 28, 572, in a coup d'état instigated by the Byzantines. (more...)

Recently featured: "Hey Baby" – Malmö FF – W. E. B. Du Bois

February 27

John McCauley (1899–1989) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force. He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1954 to 1957. A Duntroon graduate, McCauley spent four years in the Australian Military Forces before transferring to the RAAF in 1924. Having been promoted to group captain in 1940, he was posted to Singapore in June 1941 to take charge of all RAAF units defending the area. He earned praise for his efforts in attacking invading Japanese forces before the fall of Singapore, and for his dedication in evacuating his men. He was later appointed to a senior operational role with the Royal Air Force's 2nd Tactical Air Force in Europe, where he saw out the rest of the war. In 1947 he was promoted to air vice marshal and appointed Chief of Staff at British Commonwealth Occupation Force Headquarters in Japan. He took up the position of Chief of the Air Staff in January 1954, and was knighted a year later. During his tenure in the RAAF's senior role, McCauley focused on potential deployments to Southeast Asia—particularly Vietnam—and threats from the north, commencing redevelopment of RAAF Base Darwin and recommending purchase of a light supersonic bomber to replace the Air Force's English Electric Canberra. After retiring from military life in March 1957, he chaired various community and welfare organisations. (more...)

Recently featured: Alboin – "Hey Baby" – Malmö FF

February 28

Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 – c. 1014 or 1025) was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012. In about 1005, Murasaki was invited to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi at the Imperial court, probably because of her reputation as a writer. She continued to write during her service, adding scenes from court life to her work. After five or six years, she left court and retired with Shōshi to the Lake Biwa region. Murasaki wrote The Diary of Lady Murasaki, a volume of poetry, and The Tale of Genji. Within a decade of its completion, Genji was distributed throughout the provinces; within a century it was recognized as a classic of Japanese literature, and had become a subject of scholarly criticism. Early in the 20th century her work was translated; a six-volume English translation was completed in 1933. Scholars continue to recognize the importance of her work, which reflects Heian court society at its peak. (more...)

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February 29

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by over 200 species of mushrooms, collectively known as psilocybin mushrooms. The effects can include euphoria, visual and mental hallucinations, changes in perception, a distorted sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as adverse reactions such as nausea and panic attacks. Although increasingly restrictive drug laws of the late 1960s curbed scientific research into the effects of psilocybin and other hallucinogens, its popularity as an entheogen grew in the next decade. The mind-altering effects of psilocybin typically last from two to six hours; however, to individuals under the influence of psilocybin, the effects may seem to last much longer, since the drug can distort the perception of time. Psilocybin has a low toxicity and a relatively low harm potential, and reports of lethal doses of the drug are rare. Since the 1990s, there has been a renewal of scientific research into the potential medical and psychological therapeutic benefits of psilocybin for treating conditions including obsessive-compulsive disorder, cluster headaches, and anxiety related to terminal cancer. Possession of psilocybin-containing mushrooms has been outlawed in most countries, and it has been classified as a scheduled drug by many national drug laws. (more...)

Recently featured: Murasaki Shikibu – John McCauley – Alboin