Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 January 13

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From today's featured article

Art Ross (1886–1964) was a Canadian ice hockey player and executive from 1905 until 1954. Among the best defencemen of his era, he was one of the first to skate up the ice with the puck rather than pass it to a forward. He won the Stanley Cup twice in a playing career that lasted thirteen seasons; in January 1907 with the Kenora Thistles and in 1908 with the Montreal Wanderers. In 1911 he led one of the first organized player strikes over pay. When the Wanderers' home arena burned down in January 1918, the team ceased operations and Ross retired as a player. After several years as an on-ice official, he was named head coach of the Hamilton Tigers for one season. When the Boston Bruins were formed in 1924, he was hired as the first coach and general manager of the team. He would go on to coach the team on four separate occasions up to 1945 and stayed as general manager until retiring in 1954. Ross helped the Bruins win the league ten times and win the Stanley Cup three times; Ross himself coached the team to one of those victories. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Log jam at the Dalles of
the St. Croix

... that the 1886 St. Croix River log jam (pictured) was described as the "jammedest jam"?
... that evolutionary biologist Rebecca Kilner has found that mites can give burying beetles a competitive advantage?
... that a Staples store in New York City's Spingler Building received a criminal court summons over its refusal to remove several signs?
... that Miriam Salpeter and her husband Edwin Ernest Salpeter collaborated to study how nerves and muscle fibers interact?
... that Pervez Musharraf is the first former military ruler in Pakistan's history to face a trial for treason?
... that the Charlotte MLS team signed a kit sponsorship deal months before being officially awarded an expansion franchise?
... that a Nepali girl who spent three years in jail for showing a black flag of protest to King Mahendra went on to become the country's first female deputy prime minister?
... that after the end of the First World War, thousands of former British Army officers were forced to sleep rough in Hyde Park?

In the news

Tsai Ing-wen

Tsai Ing-wen (pictured) is re-elected as president of Taiwan.
In Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said is named the country's new ruler after his cousin, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, dies at the age of 79.
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 is shot down by Iranian armed forces shortly after takeoff from Tehran Airport, killing all 176 people on board.
After a U.S. airstrike kills Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, at least 56 people die in a stampede during his burial procession in Kerman, and Iranian forces attack two military bases in Iraq.

On this day

January 13: St. Knut's Day in Finland and Sweden; Coming of Age Day in Japan (2020)

Steve Ballmer

1815 – War of 1812: British troops captured Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, in the only battle of the war to take place in the state.
1884 – Welsh physician William Price was arrested for attempting to cremate his deceased infant son; he was acquitted in the subsequent trial, which eventually led to the legalisation of cremation in the United Kingdom.
1910 – The first public radio broadcast, a live performance of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci from the old Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, took place.
1972 – Ghanaian military officer Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a coup d'état to overthrow Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo.
2000 – Steve Ballmer (pictured) replaced Bill Gates as the chief executive officer of Microsoft.

Æthelwulf, King of Wessex (d. 858) · George Fox (d. 1691) · Brynhild Olivier (d. 1935)

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From today's featured list

Byron's Pool, Grantchester

There are 27 local nature reserves in Cambridgeshire, a county in eastern England with an area of 1,308 square miles (3,390 km²) and a population of 708,719 as of 2011. Local nature reserves are designated by local authorities, which must have legal control over the site, by owning it, leasing it or having an agreement with the owner. They are sites that have a special local interest biologically, geologically, or for education. Four local nature reserves in Cambridgeshire are also Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The largest is Little Paxton Pits, at sixty hectares (150 acres), which is of national importance for wintering wildfowl, and the smallest is St Denis Churchyard, East Hatley, which has grassland with diverse flowers. There is public access to all sites. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Finnish markka was the currency of Finland from 1860 to 2002. The currency was divided into 100 pennies and was first introduced by the Bank of Finland to replace the Russian ruble at a rate of four markkaa to one ruble. The markka was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2002 and ceased to be legal tender on 28 February later that year.

This picture shows a 20-markka banknote issued in 1862, as part of the first issue of markka banknotes (1860 to 1862), for the Grand Duchy of Finland, then an autonomous part of the Russian Empire; 1862 was also the first year of issue for this particular denomination. The banknote's obverse depicts the coat of arms of Finland on a Russian double-headed eagle, and was personally signed by the director and the cashier of the Bank of Finland. The text on the obverse is in Swedish, whereas the reverse is primarily in Russian and Finnish.

Banknote credit: Bank of Finland; photographed by Andrew Shiva

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