Wikipedia:Today's featured list/January 2018
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January 1
There are twenty-one air squadrons in the Indian Navy. Of these, ten operate fixed-wing aircraft, eight are helicopter squadrons and the remaining three are equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Building on the legacy inherited from the Royal Navy prior to Indian independence, the concept of naval aviation in India started with the establishment of Directorate of Naval Aviation at Naval Headquarters (NHQ) in early 1948. In 1951, the Fleet Requirement Unit (FRU) was formed to meet the aviation requirements of the navy. On 11 March, the FRU was commissioned at Cochin with ten newly acquired Sealand aircraft. To meet the training requirements of the pilots, the indigenously developed HAL HT-2 trainer was inducted into the FRU. On 17 January 1959, the FRU was commissioned as Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 550 (insignia pictured), to be the first Indian naval air squadron. Over the decades, the Navy inducted more air squadrons with aircraft including Sea Hawks, Alizés, HAL Chetaks, Sea King 42Bs, Ilyushin Il-38s, Ka-25s, Ka-28s, Ka-31s, MiG-29Ks, HAL Dhruvs, Sikorsky SH-3s, Boeing P-8I etc. and aircraft carriers INS Vikrant, INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya. (Full list...)
January 5
Australian Test cricket records date back to the first Test match between Australia and England in March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Since then Australia have played 807 matches, second only to England who have played just under 1,000. As of December 2017[update], Australia is the most successful team in Test cricket with an overall winning percentage of 47.21, ahead of their nearest rival South Africa on 37.32. Top order batsman and former captain Don Bradman (pictured) holds several batting records. He holds the record for the highest Test average of 99.94, has scored the most Test double centuries with 12 and the most runs scored in a series with 974 during the 1930 Ashes series. Shane Warne, regarded as one of the best bowlers in the history of the game, holds several Test records. Glenn McGrath, who took 563 wickets in his career, holds the record for the most wickets taken by a fast bowler in Test cricket. (Full list...)
January 8
The Robot Hall of Fame is an American hall of fame that recognizes notable robots in various scientific fields and general society, as well as achievements in robotics technology. The organization was established in 2003 by the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as an acknowledgement of Pittsburgh's achievements in the field of robotics and with the aim of creating a broader awareness of the contributions of robotics in society. The idea for the Robot Hall of Fame was conceived by Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science dean James H. Morris, who described it as a means of "honor[ing] robots that have served an actual or potentially useful function and demonstrated real skill, along with robots that entertain and those that have achieved worldwide fame in the context of fiction." The first induction ceremony was held at the Carnegie Science Center on November 10, 2003. Thirty robots – both real and fictional – have been inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame since its inception. (Full list...)
January 12
American band Death Grips has released six studio albums, one compilation album, three extended plays (EPs), one mixtape, seven singles, eight promotional singles, three remixes, and 42 music videos. The band was formed by MC Ride, Zach Hill, and Andy "Flatlander" Morin in Sacramento during the winter of 2010. In March 2011, they released their eponymous debut EP. The mixtape Exmilitary followed a month later and was praised by contemporary music critics. Death Grips signed a record deal with Epic Records in early 2012 and their debut studio album The Money Store was released in April, peaking at number 130 on the Billboard 200 chart. Because Epic Records would not confirm a release date for their second studio album No Love Deep Web before 2013, Death Grips self-released the album in November 2012. In July 2013, Death Grips launched Third Worlds, an imprint label of Harvest Records. They made their subsequent releases on this label. Their third and fourth albums, Government Plates and Fashion Week, were released in November 2013 and January 2015 respectively. (Full list...)
January 15
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M. G. Ramachandran was well known for his career in Tamil language films. After starring in numerous commercially successful films from the 1950s to the early 1970s, he has continued to hold a matinée idol status in Tamil Nadu. Ramachandran made his debut in Ellis R. Dungan's 1936 film Sathi Leelavathi. In the 1950s, he established himself as an action hero akin to Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks in Tamil cinema with Manthiri Kumari (1950), Marmayogi (1951), Malaikkallan (1954) and Nadodi Mannan (1958). All of these films had political undertones which earned Ramachandran a Robin Hood persona of being a champion for the downtrodden. The films he appeared in during the 1960s such as Enga Veettu Pillai (1965), Aayirathil Oruvan (1965) and Adimaippenn (1969) played a crucial part in his subsequent career as a politician. In 1971, Ramachandran received the National Film Award for Best Actor for his role as a cycle rickshaw driver in Rickshawkaran, making it the first film and him the first actor from South Indian cinema to win the award. Ramachandran retired from filmmaking in 1978 to take up his duties as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. (Full list...)
January 19
The Uncharted adventure media franchise, developed by Naughty Dog, is composed of video games and associated media. The core of the franchise is an eponymous series of action-adventure third-person shooter games, which follow Nathan Drake, along with Victor Sullivan and Elena Fisher, as he journeys around the world searching for historical treasures and attempting to prevent villains from harnessing the supernatural powers of various relics. The video games have had high sales, with the series as a whole selling over 28 million units prior to the 2016 release of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. In addition to the four games of the main series, published for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, the Uncharted video game series includes a browser game, two handheld games, and a mobile game, with varying gameplay styles. (Full list...)
January 22
The NWA World Middleweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) between 1939 and 2010. For most of its existence, it was defended in the Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, who called it the Campeonato Mundial Peso Medio de NWA. The championship was created as the "World Middleweight Championship" in early 1939, by Salvador Lutteroth, owner of Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre. He awarded it to Gus Kallio, a five-time National Wrestling Association World Middleweight Champion, nicknamed "The King of the Middleweights" in the United States. When Octavio Gaona defeated Kallio on March 29, 1939, he won both middleweight championships. Since 1939 45 wrestlers have shared 84 NWA Middleweight Championship reigns. René Guajardo held the championship a record six times. (Full list...)
January 26
The President of India is the head of state of India and the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. The President is referred to as the first citizen of India. Although vested with these powers by the Constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial one and executive powers are de facto exercised by the Prime Minister. The President is elected by the Electoral College composed of elected members of the parliament houses, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and also members of the Vidhan Sabha, the state legislative assemblies. Presidents may remain in office for a tenure of five years, as stated by article 56, part V, of the Constitution of India. In the case where a President's term of office is terminated early or during the absence of the President, the Vice President assumes office. There have been 14 Presidents of India since the post was established when India was declared as a republic with the adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950. (Full list...)
January 29
French film director, screenwriter and film critic Jacques Rivette wrote and directed twenty feature films, eight short films and a documentary. Rivette was a member of the French New Wave. In 1956 Rivette made the short film Le Coup du Berger, which François Truffaut credited as enacting the New Wave movement. His feature film debut Paris Belongs to Us was a key part of the movement. In 1969 he established his cinematic style with L'Amour fou, where he worked with large groups of actors and lengthy improvisation. This technique led to the thirteen-hour Out 1. Some of his other films include Celine and Julie Go Boating, Gang of Four and La Belle Noiseuse. Many of his films have long running times; Rivette edited shorter versions of five of them and considered some to be entirely new films with different meanings. (Full list...)