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April 13 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-13T00:00:00Z

Casino Royale (1953) is a James Bond novel, the first of twelve featuring the British secret agent by Ian Fleming. At a casino in Royale-les-Eaux, Bond beats Le Chiffre, the treasurer of a French trade union and a member of the Russian secret service, in a high-stakes baccarat game; Bond wins 80 million francs belonging to SMERSH, the Soviet counterintelligence agency. He is supported by Vesper Lynd, a member of his own service, as well as Felix Leiter of the CIA and René Mathis of the French Deuxième Bureau. Fleming took plot elements from his wartime experiences in the Naval Intelligence Division and based some characters on people he met during the war; the character of Bond also reflected many of Fleming's personal tastes. Looking for distraction in advance of his forthcoming wedding, Fleming wrote the draft in early 1952 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. The book was given broadly positive reviews by critics at the time and sold out in less than a month after its UK release, although US sales upon release a year later were much slower. The story has been adapted several times, including in a daily comic strip and twice on film, a 1967 adaptation starring David Niven and a 2006 version starring Daniel Craig. (Full article...)

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April 14 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-14T00:00:00Z

Taiko drums, a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments, were introduced to Japan through Korean and Chinese cultural influence as early as the 6th century, and a mythological origin is mentioned in the Nihon Shoki, the second oldest book of Japanese classical history. They have seen use in Japan for communication, theatre, religious ceremonies, and festival and concert performances. In feudal warfare, taiko drums were used to summon troops, call out orders and set a marching pace. In modern times, they have played a role in social movements for minorities within and outside Japan. Taiko performances can vary in their rhythms, forms, stick grips, clothing, and instrumentation. Ensembles typically use different types of barrel-shaped nagadō-daiko drums, as well as the smaller shime-daiko. Many groups accompany their drums with vocals, strings, and woodwind instruments. The popular ensemble style called kumi-daiko was developed in 1951 through the work of Daihachi Oguchi, and has continued with groups such as Kodo. Kumi-daiko performance groups are active in Japan, the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Brazil. (Full article...)

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April 15 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-15T00:00:00Z

Andrew Johnson (1808–1875) was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. Johnson was elected to the House of Representatives in 1843, became Governor of Tennessee in 1853, and was elected to the Senate in 1857, where he sought passage of the Homestead Bill. As Southern states, including Tennessee, seceded to form the Confederacy, Johnson remained firmly with the Union. As a War Democrat in 1864, he was a logical choice as running mate for President Abraham Lincoln, who wished to send a message of national unity. Johnson was sworn in as vice president in March 1865; six weeks later, the assassination of Lincoln made him president. Johnson directed the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to re-form their civil governments. When Congress passed bills for a more severe Reconstruction, he vetoed them, but Congress overrode him, setting a pattern for the remainder of his presidency. When he tried to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in possible violation of the Tenure of Office Act, he was impeached by the House of Representatives, and narrowly avoided removal from office. Although his ranking has fluctuated over time, he is generally considered among the worst American presidents. (Full article...)

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April 16 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-16T00:00:00Z

Sir Vernon Sturdee (1890–1966) was an Australian Army officer. During the First World War he participated in the landing at Gallipoli and the fighting on the Western Front. Promotion was stagnant between the wars, and he remained at his wartime rank of lieutenant colonel until 1935. He had little faith in the strategy of basing a fleet at Singapore, and warned that the Army would have to face a well-equipped Japan. As Chief of the General Staff during the Second World War, he conducted a doomed defence of the islands to the north of Australia against the Japanese. He later commanded the First Army in New Guinea in 1944–45, directing the fighting at Aitape and on New Britain and Bougainville. He was charged with destroying the enemy without committing his troops to battles that were beyond their strength. When the war ended, he took the surrender of Japanese forces at Rabaul. He succeeded Sir Thomas Blamey as Commander in Chief of the Australian Military Forces in December 1945, and was Chief of the General Staff again from 1946 to 1950. During this time, he had to demobilise the wartime Army while fielding and supporting part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. (Full article...)

Part of the Command in the South West Pacific Area series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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April 17 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-17T00:00:00Z

Aldwych tube station is a closed station on the London Underground, in the City of Westminster in central London. The station building, near the junction of Strand and Surrey Street, opened in 1907 as the only other station on the Piccadilly line's short branch from Holborn. Suffering from low passenger numbers, the station and branch were considered for closure several times. Service was offered only during weekday peak hours from 1962 and finally discontinued altogether in 1994, when the cost of replacing the lifts was considered too high compared to the income generated. Disused parts of the station and the running tunnels were used to shelter artworks from the National Gallery during the First World War, and from the British Museum during the Second World War. The station has long been popular as a filming location, appearing as itself and as other London Underground stations. In recognition of its historical significance, it is a Grade II listed building. (Full article...)

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April 18 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-18T00:00:00Z

Hurricane Erika was the strongest and longest-lasting tropical cyclone in the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season. It developed from a tropical wave on September 3 and moved west-northwestward across the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Passing just north of the Lesser Antilles, it carried a cloud of volcanic ash to Antigua from the eruption of the Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat. Strong waves from the hurricane produced beach erosion and coastal flooding in northern Puerto Rico, and caused the death of two surfers. Moderate wind gusts in the northern Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico left thousands of residents without power, and did $10 million in damage in the U.S. Caribbean territories. The hurricane was pushed to the north by an approaching trough, then quickly strengthened to become the only major hurricane of the season, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h). It weakened as it passed over cooler waters, and finally became an extratropical cyclone after passing near the Azores archipelago. The months of August and September produced only this one Atlantic tropical cyclone; that had not happened since 1929. (Full article...)

Part of the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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April 19 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-19T00:00:00Z

Bart Simpson is a character voiced by Nancy Cartwright (pictured) on the animated TV series The Simpsons, the longest-running American sitcom. Created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening, the mischievous and rebellious Bart (an anagram of brat) is the ten-year-old son of Homer and Marge and the older brother of Lisa and Maggie. The character has also appeared in video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials, comic books, merchandising, and (for three years before The Simpsons) on The Tracey Ullman Show. Hallmarks of the character include his chalkboard gags in the opening sequence, his prank calls to Moe, and the catchphrases "Eat my shorts", "¡Ay, caramba!", and "Don't have a cow, man!" During the first two seasons of The Simpsons, Bart was the show's breakout character, though educators derided Bart's pride in being an underachiever. Time named Bart one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. Cartwright has won several awards for voicing Bart, including a Primetime Emmy Award in 1992 and an Annie Award in 1995. In 2000, Bart and the rest of his family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (Full article...)

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April 20 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-20T00:00:00Z

Rhodotus is a genus of just one mushroom species, Rhodotus palmatus, known as the rosy veincap or wrinkled peach. Typically found growing on the stumps and logs of rotting hardwoods, mature specimens may usually be identified by the pinkish color and the distinctive ridged and veined surface of their rubbery caps, though the size, shape, and color can vary depending on the quantity and shades of light received during development. This uncommon species has been collected in eastern North America, northern Africa, Europe, and Asia. Declining populations in Europe have led to its appearance in over half of the European fungal Red Lists of threatened species. First named Agaricus palmatus by Bulliard in 1785, it was reclassified into several different genera before becoming Rhodotus in 1926. The familial placement of the genus Rhodotus within the order Agaricales has also been subject to dispute, and the taxon has been transferred variously to the families Amanitaceae, Entolomataceae, and Tricholomataceae. Molecular phylogenetics analysis has helped determine that Rhodotus is most closely related to genera in the Physalacriaceae. (Full article...)

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April 21 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-21T00:00:00Z

The Seated Liberty dollar was a dollar coin designed by Mint Chief Engraver Christian Gobrecht and struck by the United States Mint from 1840 to 1873. The coin's reverse features a heraldic eagle first seen on coins in 1807, based on a design by late Mint Chief Engraver John Reich; the coin's obverse is based on the Gobrecht dollar. "In God We Trust" was added to the dollar in 1866 following its introduction to other US coins earlier in the decade. In the final years of the series, there was more silver produced in the US, and mintages increased. These were the last dollar coins before the Coinage Act of 1873 temporarily ended their production for American commerce and authorized the trade dollar for use in foreign commerce. Representatives of silver interests were unhappy when the metal's price dropped again in the mid-1870s; they advocated the resumption of the free coinage of silver into legal tender. After passage of the Bland-Allison Act in 1878, silver dollar production resumed with the Morgan dollar. (Full article...)

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April 22 Wikipedia featured article

2015-04-22T00:00:00Z

SM U-66 was the lead ship of the Type U-66 U-boats (submarines) for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The submarine had been laid down in November 1913 by Germaniawerft of Kiel for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, who then sold the entire class to the German Imperial Navy after the outbreak of war appeared to make delivery to the Adriatic impossible. Redesigned and reconstructed to German specifications, U-66 was launched in April 1915 and commissioned in July. The boat was 228 feet (69 m) long and was armed with five torpedo tubes and a deck gun. As a part of the Baltic and 4th Flotillas, U-66 sank 24 ships with a combined gross register tonnage of 69,967 in six war patrols. After reporting her position in the North Sea on 3 September 1917, neither the U-boat nor any of her 40-man crew were ever heard from again. A postwar German study offered no explanation for her loss, although British records suggest that she may have struck a mine in the Dogger Bank area. (Full article...)

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