Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 March 25

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From today's featured article

The Walt Disney World Railroad is a 3-foot (914 mm) narrow-gauge American heritage railroad and attraction that encircles most of the Magic Kingdom theme park of Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. Constructed by WED Enterprises, it has three train stations along 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of track, and four historic steam locomotives, originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. On a typical day, two or three locomotives will complete round trips in 20 minutes on the main line. The railroad's development was led by Roger E. Broggie. The attraction's locomotives were acquired from the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán, a narrow-gauge railroad system in Mexico, and altered to resemble locomotives built in the 1880s. The passenger cars were built from scratch. The railroad opened to the public for the first time on the theme park's opening day, October 1, 1971. Since then, it has become one of the world's most popular steam-powered railroads, with about 3.7 million passengers each year. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

J. Howard Miller's inspirational poster

... that the Woozle effect delayed Naomi Parker Fraley's identification as the most likely model for We Can Do It! (pictured)?
... that people supposedly kept picking up a vanishing hitchhiker outside the Lower Bell pub in Kent?
... that Goldman Sachs bankers Richard and Robert Menschel are related to E. W. Priestap, assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division?
... that the 1,000-year-old Buttington Oak, said to have been planted to commemorate the 893 Battle of Buttington, fell last month?
... that Elsa Cavelti, who appeared in dramatic roles at the Opernhaus Zürich and taught voice at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt, was Wagner's Brangäne at La Scala?
... that the comic book Damnation is about Doctor Strange fighting the demon Mephisto for the souls of Las Vegas citizens?
... that at the 2018 Winter Olympics, New Jersey-born Anthony Watson became the first slider to represent Jamaica in skeleton at the Olympic level?
... that while most Indonesians do not speak Arabic, they learn to read the Quran using a textbook called Iqro?

In the news

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski

Hundreds of thousands of protesters around the world participate in March For Our Lives rallies for tighter gun control in the United States.
The Boat Race is held in London, with Cambridge winning both the men's and the women's events.
A gunman takes hostages at a supermarket in Trèbes, France, and fatally shoots four people before being shot dead by police.
A suicide bombing kills 33 people in Kabul, Afghanistan.
President of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (pictured) resigns amidst scandals surrounding the Operation Car Wash criminal investigation.

On this day...

March 25: Rama Navami (Hinduism, 2018); Bengali Genocide Remembrance Day

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia

1410 – The Yongle Emperor launched the first of his military campaigns against the Mongols, resulting in the fall of the Mongol khan Bunyashiri.
1807 – The Slave Trade Act became law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire.
1917 – Following the overthrow of the Russian tsar Nicholas II, Georgia's bishops unilaterally restored the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
1948 – Meteorologists at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, United States, issued the world's first tornado forecast after noticing conditions similar to another tornado that had struck five days earlier.
1975 – King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (pictured) was shot and killed by his nephew Faisal bin Musaid.

Sophie Blanchard (b. 1778) · Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas (d. 1927) · Melita Norwood (b. 1912)

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Today's featured picture

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family. Plants are gathered annually for their rhizomes, which when not used fresh are boiled in water, dried, and ground into a deep-orange-yellow powder. Turmeric is commonly used as a coloring and flavoring agent in many Asian cuisines, especially for curries.

Photograph: Simon A. Eugster

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