Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 2005

Today's featured article archive

January 1

The Alchemist in Search of the Philosophers Stone (1771)

Alchemy is an early protoscientific practice combining elements of chemistry, physics, astrology, art, semiotics, metallurgy, medicine, mysticism, and religion. Two intertwined goals sought by many alchemists were the philosopher's stone, a mythical substance which would enable the transmutation of common metals into gold; and the universal panacea, a remedy that would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely. European alchemy continued in this way through the dawning of the Renaissance. The era also saw a flourishing of con artists who would use chemical tricks and sleight of hand to "demonstrate" the transmutation of common metals into gold. Alchemy can be regarded as the precursor of the modern science of chemistry prior to the formulation of the scientific method. (more...)

Recently featured: Planetary nebula – Max Weber – Turquoise

January 2

Johnny Cash was an American country music singer and songwriter, known to his fans as "The Man in Black". In a career that spanned almost five decades, he was the personification of country music to many Americans and others around the world who had no other knowledge or interest in that art form. His gravelly voice and the distinctive boom chicka boom sound of his Tennessee Two backing band were instantly recognizable to millions. (more...)

Recently featured: Alchemy – Planetary nebula – Max Weber

January 3

Henry VIII was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from April 22, 1509, until his death. He was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding his father, Henry VII. He is famous for having been married six times and for wielding the most untrammeled power of any British monarch. Notable events to occur during his reign included the establishment of the Church of England, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the union of England and Wales. Several significant pieces of legislation were enacted during Henry VIII's reign. They included several Acts which severed the English Church from the Roman Catholic Church, the Acts of Union 1536-1543 (which united England and Wales into one nation), the Buggery Act 1533 (the first anti-homosexual enactment in England), and the Witchcraft Act 1542. (more...)

Recently featured: Johnny Cash – Alchemy – Planetary nebula

January 4

The orca is the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. It is the second-most widely distributed mammal on Earth (after humans) and is found in all the world's oceans. It is also a versatile predator, eating fish, turtles, birds, seals, sharks and even other juvenile and small cetaceans. This puts the orca at the pinnacle of the marine food chain. The orca is also commonly known as the "killer whale"—a name which reflects the animal's reputation as a magnificent and fearsome sea mammal whose existence was first recorded by Pliny the Elder. Today it is recognized that the orca is neither a whale nor a danger to humans; no attack on a human by an orca in the wild has ever been recorded. (more...)

Recently featured: Henry VIII – Johnny Cash – Alchemy

January 5

Ziad Jarrah was named by the FBI as one of the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He is believed to have taken over as the pilot of the aircraft and made an unsuccessful attempt to crash the plane into either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. After a wealthy and secular upbringing, Jarrah became involved in the September 11 conspiracy in college. Unique among the hijackers, he had a girlfriend and was close to his family. There are disputes concerning whether or not Jarrah was actually on Flight 93, although the 9/11 Commission concluded that his was not a case of mistaken identity. (more...)

Recently featured: Orca – Henry VIII – Johnny Cash

January 6

Restoration comedy is the name given to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1700. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years during the Interregnum, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a rebirth of English drama. Restoration comedy is famous or notorious for its sexual explicitness, a quality encouraged by Charles II personally and by the rakish aristocratic ethos of his court. Wide and socially mixed audiences were attracted to the comedies by up-to-the-minute topical writing, by crowded and bustling plots, by the introduction of the first professional actresses, and by the rise of the first celebrity actors. This period saw the first professional woman playwright, Aphra Behn. (more...)

Recently featured: Ziad Jarrah – Orca – Henry VIII

January 7

Diagram of a CPU memory cache

A CPU cache is a cache used by the central processing unit of a computer to reduce the average time to access memory. The cache is a smaller, faster memory which stores copies of the most frequently used main memory locations. So long as most accesses are to the cached copies, the average latency to memory will be closer to the cache latency than to the latency of main memory. When the processor wishes to read or write a location in main memory, it first checks the main memory address against the tags in the cache. If one of the tag entries matches (a cache hit), the processor reads or writes the corresponding data in that entry rather than doing the same to main memory. If none of the tag entries match, the reference is a miss. Misses are slow because they require the data from main memory, and the slowness of that memory is, of course, the reason for the cache in the first place. The proportion of accesses that result in a cache hit is known as the hit rate. (more...)

Recently featured: Restoration comedy – Ziad Jarrah – Orca

January 8

Chuck Palahniuk is a satirical novelist and freelance journalist living in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher. He has one of the largest centralized followings of any author on the Internet, based around his official web site. His writings, similar in style to those of such peers as Bret Easton Ellis, Irvine Welsh, and Douglas Coupland, have made him one of the most popular novelists of Generation X. (more...)

Recently featured: CPU cache – Restoration comedy – Ziad Jarrah

January 9

A pet skunk is a skunk kept by humans for companionship and enjoyment. Although capable of living indoors with humans similarly to dogs or cats, pet skunks are relatively rare, partly due to restrictive laws and the complexity of their care. Pet skunks are mainly kept in the United States, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. In the United States, pet skunks can be purchased from licensed shelters or breeders with a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Baby skunk availability peaks during springtime, immediately following the skunk mating season. Some large fur farms sell surplus skunks to pet stores. Most wild skunks only spray as a defense mechanism when injured or attacked. The mercaptan-emitting scent glands are usually removed in pet skunks at about four weeks of age. (more...)

Recently featured: Chuck Palahniuk – CPU cache – Restoration comedy

January 10

Since 1949, the head of state of the Republic of Ireland has been the President of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people, and serves a maximum of two seven year terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain reserve powers. The office was established by the Constitution of Ireland in 1937. The President's official residence is Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin, and the current office-holder is President Mary McAleese. The President is formally elected by the people once in every seven years, except in the event of premature vacancy, when an election must be held within sixty days, or when there is only one valid candidate for the presidency, as happened in 2004. The President is directly elected by secret ballot under the form of the Single Transferable Vote system. (more...)

Recently featured: Pet skunk – Chuck Palahniuk – CPU cache

January 11

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a federal monarchy-republic formed by the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569, lasting until 1795. The Commonwealth was an extension of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, a personal union between those two states that had existed from 1386. The Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous states in Europe and for over two centuries successfully withstood aggressions from the Teutonic Order, the Mongols, the Russians, the Ottomans, and Sweden. The Commonwealth was notable for its political system, which was a precursor to modern democracy and federation; for its remarkable religious tolerance; and for the second-oldest written national constitution in the world. Its economy was dominated by agriculture. While the Commonwealth's first century was a Golden Age for both Poland and Lithuania, the second century was marked by military defeats, a return to serfdom for the peasants, and growing anarchy in political life. (more...)

Recently featured: President of Ireland – Pet skunk – Chuck Palahniuk

January 12

Lottie Dod was a British athlete. She is best known as a tennis player, winning the Wimbledon championships five times. She won her first victory when she was only 15 years old, remaining the youngest player ever to win the tournament for over a century until Martina Hingis won the title in 1996 being three days younger than Dod. In addition to tennis, Dod competed in many other sports. Among others, she won the British amateur golf championships, played for the British national field hockey team, and won a silver medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in archery. The Guinness Book of Records has named her as the most versatile female athlete of all time, together with track and field athlete and fellow golf player Babe Zaharias. (more...)

Recently featured: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – President of Ireland – Pet skunk

January 13

Radio telescope observations play a role in researching the Fermi paradox

The Fermi paradox is a paradox proposed by physicist Enrico Fermi that questions the possibilities of finding intelligent extraterrestrial life. More specifically, it deals with the attempts to answer one of the most profound questions of all time: "Are we (the Earthlings) the only technologically advanced civilization in the Universe?" The Drake equation for estimating the number of extraterrestrial civilizations with which we might come in contact seems to imply that we should not expect such contact to be extremely rare. Fermi's response to this conclusion was that if there were very many advanced extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy, then, "Where are they? Why haven't we seen any traces of intelligent extraterrestrial life, such as probes, spacecraft or transmissions?" (more...)

Recently featured: Lottie Dod – Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – President of Ireland

January 14

Lake Burley Griffin is a large lake in the centre of the Australian federal capital city of Canberra. It was created in 1963 after the Molonglo River, which runs through the city centre, was dammed. It is named after Walter Burley Griffin, the architect who won the design competition for the city of Canberra. The lake is located in the approximate geographic centre of the city, according to Griffin's original designs. Numerous important institutions, such as the National Library of Australia lie on its shores, and Parliament House is a short distance away. Its surrounds are also quite popular with recreational users, particularly in the warmer months. Though swimming in the lake is uncommon, it is used for a wide variety of other activities, such as rowing, fishing and sailing. (more...)

Recently featured: Fermi paradox – Lottie Dod – Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

January 15

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America and is the oldest written national constitution still in force. It was completed on September 17, 1787, with its adoption by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and was later ratified by special conventions called for that purpose in each of the then-existing thirteen American states. It took effect in 1788, and has served as a model for a number of other nations' constitutions. It created a more unified government in place of what was then a group of independent states operating under the Articles of Confederation. (more...)

Recently featured: Lake Burley Griffin – Fermi paradox – Lottie Dod

January 16

"The Long and Winding Road" is a pop ballad written by Paul McCartney that originally appeared on the Beatles' album Let It Be. It became The Beatles' last Number 1 song in the United States on June 13, 1970. While the released version of the song was very successful, the post-production modifications to the song by producer Phil Spector angered McCartney to the point that when he made his case in court for breaking up the Beatles as a legal entity, he cited the treatment of "The Long and Winding Road" as one of six reasons for doing so. (more...)

Recently featured: Constitution of the United States – Lake Burley Griffin – Fermi paradox

January 17

In sociology, the term gender role denotes a set of behavioral norms. Gender role is a special case of the sociological concept of role. Society tries to impose these norms upon an individual through a process called socialization. During this process a person usually accepts these norms, acts according to them, and develops a matching sense of gender identity. To what degree an individual incorporates these norms into his or her behaviors and personality differs widely from one individual to another. In sexology, on the other hand, the term "gender role" describes an individual or socially prescribed set of behaviors and responsibilities. In essence, gender role comprises all the things that people do to express their individual gender identities. Gender roles are not norms that were established by some authority, but reflections of the changing habits and customs of concrete individuals in actual societies. (more...)

Recently featured: "The Long and Winding Road" – Constitution of the United States – Lake Burley Griffin

January 18

The First Crusade was a crusade launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II to regain control of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Christian Holy Land from Muslims. What started as a minor call for aid quickly turned into a wholesale migration and conquest of territory outside of Europe. Both knights and peasants from many different nations of western Europe, with little central leadership, travelled overland and by sea towards Jerusalem and captured the city in July 1099, establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Crusader states. Although these gains lasted for fewer than 200 years, the Crusade was a major turning point in the expansion of Western power, and was the only crusade out of the many that followed to achieve its stated goal. (more...)

Recently featured: Gender role – "The Long and Winding Road" – Constitution of the United States

January 19

Sir Bernard Williams was an English moral philosopher, noted by The Times of London as the "most brilliant and most important British moral philosopher of his time." Williams spent over 50 years seeking answers to one question: "What does it mean to live well?" This was a question few Western analytic philosophers had explored since the Greeks, preferring instead to focus on the issue of moral obligation. For Williams, moral obligation, insofar as the phrase had any meaning, had to be compatible with the pursuit of self-interest and the good life. As Knightsbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge for over a decade, and the Provost of King's College, Cambridge for almost as long, Williams became known internationally for his attempt to return the study of moral philosophy to its foundations: to history and culture, politics and psychology and, in particular, to the Greeks. He saw himself as a synthesist, drawing together ideas from fields that seemed no longer to know how to communicate with one another. (more...)

Recently featured: First Crusade – Gender role – "The Long and Winding Road"

January 20

A portion of the aqueduct at Kreuzweingarten

The Eifel Aqueduct was one of the longest aqueducts of the Roman Empire. It shows the great skill of the Roman engineers, whose level of technical achievement was lost in the Middle Ages and regained only in recent times. The aqueduct, constructed in AD 80, carried water some 95 km (60 miles) from the hilly Eifel region of what is now Germany to the ancient city of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensum (present-day Cologne). If the auxiliary spurs to additional springs are included, the length was 130 km (80 miles). The construction was almost entirely below ground, and the flow of the water was produced entirely by gravity. A few bridges, including one up to 1,400 m (0.86 miles) in length, were needed to pass over valleys. Unlike some of the other famous Roman aqueducts, the Eifel aqueduct was specifically designed to minimise the above-ground portion to protect it from damage and freezing. (more...)

Recently featured: Bernard Williams – First Crusade – Gender role

January 21

The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of gold. When several nations are using such fixed unit of account then the rates of exchange among national currencies effectively becomes fixed. The gold standard can also be viewed as a monetary system in which changes in the supply and demand of gold determine the value of goods and services in relation to their supply and demand. Because of its rarity and durability, gold has long been used as a means of payment. The exact nature of the evolution of money varies significantly across time and place, though it is believed by historians that gold's high value for its utility, density, resistance to corrosion, uniformity, and easy divisibility made it useful both as a store of value and as a unit of account for stored value of other kinds. When used as part of a hard-money system, the function of paper currency is to reduce the danger of transporting gold, reduce the possibility of debasement of coins, and avoid the reduction in circulating medium to hoarding and losses. (more...)

Recently featured: Eifel Aqueduct – Bernard Williams – First Crusade

January 22

The Baháʼí Faith is a monotheistic religion whose members follow the teachings of Baháʼu'lláh, their prophet founder. Bahá'u'lláh taught that there is one God who progressively reveals his will to humanity. In the Baháʼí view, each of the great religions brought by the Messengers of God—such as Moses, Krishna, the Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus, Muhammad and the Báb—represents a successive stage in the spiritual development of civilization. Baháʼís believe Bahá'u'lláh is the most recent Messenger in this line, and has brought teachings that address the moral and spiritual challenges of the modern world. As such, although the Baháʼí Faith is not traditionally included among the Abrahamic religions, it recognizes many of the same personages. (more...)

Recently featured: Gold standard – Eifel Aqueduct – Bernard Williams

January 23

The 1983 English edition cover

"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is a short story by the 20th century Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story was first published in May 1940, in Spanish, in the Argentine journal Sur. The "postscript" dated 1947 is intended to be anachronistic, set seven years in the future. The first English-language translation of the story was published in 1961. Relatively long for Borges (approximately 5600 words), it is a work of speculative fiction and is most noted as a parabolic discussion of Berkeleian idealism. In the story, an encyclopedia article about a mysterious country called Uqbar is the first indication of Orbis Tertius, a massive conspiracy of intellectuals to imagine (and thereby create) a world - Tlön. In the course of the story, the narrator encounters increasingly substantive artifacts of Orbis Tertius and of Tlön; by the end of the story, Earth is becoming Tlön. (more...)

Recently featured: Baháʼí Faith – Gold standard – Eifel Aqueduct

January 24

Witold Pilecki was a soldier of the Second Polish Republic, founder of the resistance movement Secret Polish Army (Tajna Armia Polska) and member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). During World War II he was the only person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. While there, he organized inmate resistance and as early as 1940 informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's camp atrocities. He escaped from Auschwitz in 1943 and took part in the Warsaw Uprising (August-October 1944). Pilecki was executed in 1948 by communist authorities. (more...)

Recently featured: Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius – Baháʼí Faith – Gold standard

January 25

Hip hop music is a popular style of music. It is composed of two parts: rapping (emceeing) and DJing; along with breakdancing and graffiti art, these are the four components of hip hop, a cultural movement which began among African Americans in New York City in the 1970s. The term rap is sometimes used synonymously with hip hop music, though it is also used to refer specifically to the practice of rapping, which is just one component of hip hop music. Most typically, hip hop consists of one or more rappers who spout semi-autobiographic tales, often relating to a fictionalized counterpart, in an intensely rhythmic lyrical form, making abundant use of techniques like assonance, alliteration and rhyme. Along with the rapper a DJ or a live band plays a beat. This beat is often from the percussion of a different song, usually rock, funk or soul, and is sometimes sampled. In addition to the beat, other sounds are often sampled, synthesized or performed. (more...)

Recently featured: Witold Pilecki – Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius – Baháʼí Faith

January 26

The Battle of Hampton Roads was a naval battle of the American Civil War, taking place from March 8, 1862 to March 9, 1862, off Sewell's Point, a narrow place near the mouth of Hampton Roads, Virginia. As the war started, Union forces evacuating Norfolk burned the ships left behind. One was raised by the Confederates, renamed the CSS Virginia, and plated with iron—making it the first modern ironclad warship. On March 8, 1862, it sailed into Hampton Roads off Sewell's Point to challenge the blockading Union ships there, destroying several of them. The next day, it was engaged by the USS Monitor, a newly built Union ironclad. Although the battle itself was inconclusive, it is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between two powered ironclad warships, which came to be known as ironclads. Prior to then, warships were made primarily of wood. After the battle, ships and naval warfare changed dramatically, as nations around the world raced to convert their fleets to iron. (more...)

Recently featured: Hip hop music – Witold Pilecki – Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius

January 27

Robert Walpole is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. The position of Prime Minister was only a de facto one, having no official recognition in law, but Walpole is nevertheless acknowledged as having held the de facto office due to the extent of his influence in the Cabinet. Walpole, a Whig, served during the reigns of George I and George II. His tenure is normally dated to 1721, when he obtained the post of First Lord of the Treasury; others date it to 1730, when, with the retirement of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, he became the sole and undisputed leader of the Cabinet. Walpole continued to govern until he resigned in 1742, making his administration the longest in British history. (more...)

Recently featured: Battle of Hampton Roads – Hip hop music – Witold Pilecki

January 28

A 335,000 gallon (1.3 million liter) aquarium at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

An aquarium is a clear-sided container (typically constructed of glass or high-strength plastic) in which water-dwelling plants and animals (usually fish and sometimes invertebrates) are kept in captivity. Aquarium keeping is a popular hobby around the world, with about 60 million enthusiasts worldwide. From the 1850s, when the predecessor of the modern aquarium was first developed as a novel curiosity, the ranks of aquarists have swelled as more sophisticated systems including lighting and filtration systems were developed to keep aquarium fish healthy. Public aquaria reproduce the home aquarist's hobby on a grand scale — the Osaka Aquarium, for example, brags of a tank of nearly 5.3 million litres (1.4 million U.S. gallons) and a collection of about 580 species of aquatic life. The careful aquarist dedicates considerable effort to maintaining a tank ecology that mimics its inhabitants' natural habitat. Controlling water quality includes managing the inflow and outflow of nutrients, most notably the management of waste produced by tank inhabitants. (more...)

Recently featured: Robert Walpole – Battle of Hampton Roads – Hip hop music

January 29

The Pulaski Skyway is a cantilever truss structure in New Jersey carrying U.S. Highways 1 and 9 between the far east side of Newark and Tonnelle Circle in Jersey City, passing through Kearny. The Skyway spans the Passaic River and Hackensack River, the New Jersey Turnpike, many local roads, and several railroads. It is named for General Kazimierz Pulaski, the Polish military leader who helped the United States in the Revolutionary War. It is known as a 'skyway' because it travels high (41.1 meters/135 feet at its highest point) above the meadows to avoid drawbridges across the two navigable rivers. The Skyway was opened in 1932 as the last part of the Route 1 Extension, considered by many to be the first "super highway" in the United States, and is still in use in its original form, with only minor changes. (more...)

Recently featured: Aquarium – Robert Walpole – Battle of Hampton Roads

January 30

The Laal language is a still-unclassified language spoken by about 300 people in three villages in the Moyen-Chari prefecture of Chad on opposite banks of the Chari River, called Gori, Damtar, and Mailao. It may be a language isolate, in which case it would represent an isolated survival of an earlier language group of central Africa. It is unwritten (except in transcription by linguists). According to SIL-Chad missionary David Faris, it is in danger of extinction, with most people under 25 shifting to the locally more widespread Baguirmi language. This language first came to the attention of academic linguists in 1977, through Pascal Boyeldieu's fieldwork in 1975 and 1978. His fieldwork was based for the most part on a single speaker, M. Djouam Kadi of Damtar. (more...)

Recently featured: Pulaski Skyway – Aquarium – Robert Walpole

January 31

Super Mario 64 is a platform game, published by Nintendo and developed by its EAD division, for the Nintendo 64. Along with Pilotwings 64, it was one of the launch titles for the console.[5] It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, and later in North America, Europe, and Australia. Super Mario 64 has sold over eleven million copies. An enhanced remake called Super Mario 64 DS was released for the Nintendo DS in 2004.

As one of the first three dimensional (3D) platform games, Super Mario 64 features free-roaming analog degrees of freedom, large open-ended areas, and true 3D polygons as opposed to two-dimensional (2D) sprites. It established a new archetype for the genre, much as Super Mario Bros. did for 2D sidescrolling platformers. Hailed as "revolutionary", the game left a lasting impression on 3D game design, particularly notable for its use of a dynamic camera system and the implementation of its analog control.

In going from two to three dimensions, Super Mario 64 placed an emphasis on exploration within vast worlds that require the player to complete multiple diverse missions, replacing the linear obstacle courses of traditional platform games. While doing so, it managed to preserve many gameplay elements and characters of earlier Mario games. The title is acclaimed by many critics and fans as one of the greatest and most revolutionary video games of all time. (more...)

Recently featured: Laal language – Pulaski Skyway – Aquarium