Wikipedia:Main Page history/2023 October 9
From today's featured article
Airport Central railway station is an underground Transperth commuter rail station at terminals one and two of Perth Airport in Western Australia. The station is located on the Airport line and is one of three stations that were built as part of the Forrestfield–Airport Link project, which consists of 8 kilometres (5 mi) of twin bored tunnels and three stations. Construction began in May 2017 following preparatory work. By January 2018, excavation was complete, and in May 2018 the two tunnel boring machines reached the station after tunnelling from High Wycombe. The machines left the station tunnelling north-west in July, and construction of the rest of the station started. A 280-metre (920 ft) elevated walkway was built linking the station to the airport's terminal one. Originally planned to open in 2020, the line and station officially opened on 9 October 2022. The journey to Perth station takes eighteen minutes. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that ash fall from the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera (pictured) was reported on ships nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) out to sea?
- ... that National Football League player Dylan Cook went from being the quarterback to protecting the quarterback?
- ... that there have been eight known males with three X and two Y chromosomes?
- ... that in 1903, Georg Forchhammer invented a system to help his deaf students see the sounds of spoken Danish?
- ... that after their 2020 tour was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Spiritbox received $10,000 from Shinedown's Brent Smith, a stranger, to cover losses?
- ... that the developers of BattleSphere pledged to donate all profits from sales to diabetes research?
- ... that during World War I, Roy W. Ritner was elected unopposed to the Oregon State Senate while serving with the American Red Cross in France?
- ... that Athenians built their bulletin board with a surprising lack of precision?
In the news
- Kelvin Kiptum (pictured) breaks the men's marathon world record in the Chicago Marathon.
- Israel declares a state of war after Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups launch a series of attacks from the Gaza Strip that has left hundreds dead.
- Two earthquakes leave more than 2,000 people dead in Herat, Afghanistan.
- The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Narges Mohammadi "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all".
On this day
October 9: Leif Erikson Day; Thanksgiving in Canada (2023)
- 1676 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek wrote a letter to the Royal Society describing "animalcules" – the first known description of protozoa (pictured).
- 1740 – European soldiers and Javanese collaborators massacred Chinese Indonesians in the port city of Batavia, modern-day Jakarta.
- 1888 – The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., at the time the world's tallest building, officially opened to the general public.
- 1952 – A footman shot and killed two colleagues and wounded the lady of the house at Knowsley Hall, England.
- 1986 – The Phantom of the Opera, a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and currently the longest-running Broadway show in history, opened in London's West End.
- Claude Gaspar Bachet de Méziriac (b. 1581)
- Henry Constable (d. 1613)
- Nazikeda Kadın (b. 1866)
- Clare Boothe Luce (d. 1987)
From today's featured list
There are twenty extant species of storks, members of the family Ciconiidae, consisting of heavy-bodied, large-billed wading birds in the monotypic order Ciconiiformes. Some species have different common names: two species in the genus Anastomus are known as openbills, two from the genus Leptoptilos are called adjutants, and three species are known as jabirus. Storks are found in tropical and subtropical habitats around the world, mostly inhabiting wetlands and marshes, although some also inhabit forests and savannahs. They are large birds with long legs, stout bills, and variable featherless patches on the head. The twenty extant stork species recognised by the International Ornithologists' Union are distributed among six genera, one of which is monotypic. Storks are most diverse in Afro-Eurasia, especially in Africa and Asia, and only one species, the wood stork (example pictured), is known from the Americas. (Full list...)
Today's featured picture
The radiated tortoise (Astrochelys radiata) is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. Although it is native to and most abundant in southern Madagascar, it can also be found in the rest of this island, and has been introduced to the islands of Réunion and Mauritius. It is a very long-lived species, with recorded lifespans of up to 188 years. These tortoises are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN, mainly because of the destruction of their habitat and because of poaching. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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