Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 October 16

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From today's featured article

The long-tailed ground roller is a bird species found in arid spiny forests near the coast of southwestern Madagascar. Requiring shade and a deep layer of leaves on the ground, it has low population densities throughout its habitat. This species of ground roller relies primarily on its strong legs, as its wings are relatively weak. It is a medium-sized bird with a plump silhouette, dark brown upperparts with black streaks, light gray underparts, a white throat framed by black malar stripes, a black breastband, and sky-blue feathers at the edge of its wings and long tail. Calls are rarely made outside of the breeding season. It feeds primarily on invertebrates, including ants, beetles, butterflies, and worms, which it finds by searching through deep leaf litter or by remaining still and watching attentively. It is classified as a vulnerable species; the forests where it lives are not protected, and it is losing habitat to slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal collection, and logging. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Canan Bayram

... that Canan Bayram (pictured) was the only member of Alliance 90/The Greens directly elected to the German parliament in the 2017 election?
... that besides feeding on carpets, the larvae of the common carpet beetle can destroy dried insects in collections?
... that Fawad Khan appeared in Eastern Eye's listing of the "50 Sexiest Asian Men" in 2014, 2015, and 2016?
... that Grangemoor Park in Cardiff, Wales, was created on top of a former landfill site of household and commercial rubbish?
... that captured women and girls were sold for 10 to 20 Mexican dollars during the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong?
... that although Pausanias described Spintharus of Corinth as the architect of the Temple at Delphi, subsequent historians have disagreed as to which temple he built?
... that the barred cuckoo-dove is similar to the little cuckoo-dove, but is larger and darker, and is black-barred at the mantle, breast, covert, and tail?
... that one critic described the plot of Nude for Satan as "the Devil is bored and wants to have an orgy. Oh, and Calderoni gets molested by a giant spider"?

In the news

Sooronbay Jeenbekov

Sooronbay Jeenbekov (pictured) is elected President of Kyrgyzstan in the first peaceful transfer of power in the country's history.
Flash floods and landslides from a tropical depression kill more than 50 people in Vietnam.
Wildfires in Northern California kill at least 40 people and destroy thousands of buildings and other structures.
Richard Thaler is awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Hurricane Nate kills at least 45 people across Central America and in the United States, primarily due to flooding and landslides.

On this day...

October 16

Girton College

955 – The forces of Otto the Great defeated the Obotrite federation in the Battle on the Raxa, marking the high point of Otto's reign.
1869 – Girton College (pictured), one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge and England's first residential college for women, was founded.
1940 – World War II: Nazi Governor-General Hans Frank established the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest Jewish ghetto in occupied Poland.
1964 – With the success of the 596 nuclear weapons testing, China became the world's fifth nuclear power.
2013 – In Laos's deadliest air accident, Lao Airlines Flight 301 crashed into the Mekong River, resulting in the deaths of all 49 people aboard.

Pedro González de Lara (d. 1130) · Lucy Stanton (b. 1831) · Pamela C. Rasmussen (b. 1959)

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From today's featured list

Hurricane Ike

The Atlantic hurricane season of 2008 was the first such year to feature a major hurricane in every month from July to November. Although Tropical Storm Arthur formed on May 30, 2008, the season officially began on June 1 and ended on November 30, dates that conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones develop in the Atlantic basin. The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was the fourth most active season in recorded history, and featured slightly more activity than that of the previous year. Pre-season forecasts noted a high possibility for an above average number of tropical cyclones, primarily due to lingering La Niña effects and abnormally warm sea surface temperatures across the Atlantic basin. Seventeen tropical cyclones were observed during the season, of which sixteen intensified into tropical storms, eight became hurricanes, and five became major hurricanes. With the exception of Tropical Storm Nana, every tropical cyclone during the season affected land to an extent. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The first cabinet of Barack Obama, photographed in the White House East Room in September 2009. Consisting of sixteen members and seven cabinet-level positions, the Cabinet of the United States acts as an advisory body to the President. Of the persons shown, five (Gary Locke, Peter R. Orszag, Christina Romer, Rahm Emanuel, and Robert Gates) left the Obama administration before the end of the president's first term.

Photograph: Chuck Kennedy

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