Wikipedia:Main Page history/2024 January 16
From today's featured article
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Adamson Tannehill (1750–1820) was an American military officer, politician, civic leader, and farmer. Born in Maryland, Tannehill was among the first to join the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, becoming commander of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment. He then settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was active in the state militia, rising to the rank of major general in 1811. He also served as a brigadier general of United States Volunteers in the War of 1812. Tannehill held several local, state, and national offices, including one term as a Democratic-Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1813 to 1815. He was president of the Pittsburgh branch of the Bank of the United States from 1817 until his death. He also served on the founding boards of several civic and state organizations. Tannehill died in 1820 and was buried at his Grove Hill home outside Pittsburgh. He was later reinterred in Allegheny Cemetery (gravestone pictured). (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that while George C. Brownell played no part in the Oregon land fraud scandal, a published cartoon (pictured) showed him as the "Pretty Moth" that flew too close to the land fraud limelight?
- ... that Oxford ivy grows towards the light to bloom and then towards the darkness when going to seed?
- ... that it took 34 years for the first person to beat the game Tetris?
- ... that the murder of Luisa Lallana sparked a general strike in Rosario, Argentina?
- ... that the stylized animation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was inspired by rough sketches in school notebooks?
- ... that Thomas Fritzsch, a viol player who rediscovered compositions by Carl Friedrich Abel, established a festival dedicated to him in Köthen?
- ... that Michael Lewis, author of Going Infinite, compared a rival author to the subject of both their books, convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried?
- ... that Gracie Mansion became New York City's mayoral residence after serving as a public toilet and a museum?
In the news
- Margrethe II abdicates and is succeeded by Frederik X (pictured) as King of Denmark.
- Lai Ching-te is elected President of Taiwan.
- A US-led coalition launches a series of airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen, amid ongoing attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
- Archaeologists announce the discovery of a cluster of ancient cities in the Amazon rainforest, which predates known complex Amazonian societies by more than a millennium.
On this day
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- 1809 – Peninsular War: French forces under Jean-de-Dieu Soult attacked the British's amphibious evacuation under Sir John Moore at Corunna in Galicia, Spain.
- 1862 – A pumping engine at a colliery in New Hartley, England, broke and fell down the shaft, trapping miners below and resulting in 204 deaths.
- 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of Bataan, U.S. Army sergeant Jose Calugas (pictured) organized a squad of volunteers to man an artillery position under heavy fire, which later earned him the Medal of Honor.
- 1964 – The musical Hello, Dolly! opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway, and went on to win ten Tony Awards, a record that stood for 37 years.
- 2018 – In Mrauk U, Myanmar, police fired into a crowd protesting the ban of an event to mark the anniversary of the end of the Kingdom of Mrauk U, resulting in seven deaths and twelve injuries.
- Isaac Komnenos (b. 1093)
- Edward Gibbon (d. 1794)
- Cliff Thorburn (b. 1948)
- Gene Cernan (d. 2017)
Today's featured picture
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Lightning is a natural phenomenon formed by electrostatic discharges through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions, either both in the atmosphere or one in the atmosphere and one on the ground, temporarily neutralizing these in a near-instantaneous release of an average of between 200 megajoules and 7 gigajoules of energy, depending on the type. The three main types of lightning are distinguished by where they occur: either inside a single thundercloud (intra-cloud), between two clouds (cloud-to-cloud), or between a cloud and the ground (cloud-to-ground), in which case it is referred to as a lightning strike. Lightning causes thunder, a sound from the shock wave which develops as gases in the vicinity of the discharge heat suddenly to very high temperatures. It is often heard a few seconds after the lightning itself. Thunder is heard as a rolling, gradually dissipating rumble because the sound from different portions of a long stroke arrives at slightly different times. This photograph shows strokes of cloud-to-ground lightning hitting the Mediterranean Sea close to Port-la-Nouvelle in southern France. Photograph credit: Maxime Raynal
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