Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 November 23

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From today's featured article

Looking west along Nico Ditch, near Levenshulme

Nico Ditch is a six-mile-long (9.7 km) linear earthwork between Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford in Greater Manchester, England. It was dug as a defensive fortification, or possibly a boundary marker, between the 5th and 11th centuries. The earliest documented reference to the ditch is in a charter detailing the granting of land in Audenshaw to the monks of the Kersal Cell. In the document, dating from 1190 to 1212, the earthwork is referred to as "Mykelldiche", and a magnum fossatum, Latin for "large ditch". Despite heavy weathering, it is still visible in short sections, which can be 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5 feet (1.5 m) deep. A 330-yard (300 m) stretch through Denton Golf Course and a section running through Platt Fields Park are considered the best-preserved remains. In 1997, a segment of the ditch in Platt Fields was protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The rest of the ditch remains unprotected. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Zdrojewicz (right) during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

... that a famous photograph shows Małka Zdrojewicz (pictured), who smuggled weapons into the Warsaw Ghetto inside her boots?
... that the many lakes in the Nancy Lake State Recreation Area were created during the retreat of glaciers 9,000 years ago?
... that Gilles Courteau made the switch from French to English as the official language used for coaching in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League?
... that the Australian Federal Court of Bankruptcy lost its jurisdiction in 1977 but was not formally abolished until 1995?
... that the gray grass mouse inhabits forests of Podocarpus parlatorei and Alnus acuminata on steep hillsides on the eastern flanks of the Andes?
... that Günther Morbach appeared in more than 180 operatic bass roles, including Mozart's Sarastro in the new Opernhaus Dortmund and in a Harald Weiss world premiere at the Staatstheater Braunschweig?
... that until being murdered in May 2018, Mexican journalist and radio station founder Juan Carlos Huerta anchored the newscast on the television station XHTVL-TDT?
... that Bill "Maverick" Golden drove the Little Red Wagon, drag racing's first wheelstander?

In the news

Joey Logano

In U.S. stock car racing, Joey Logano (pictured) wins the NASCAR Cup Series.
The wreck of Argentinian submarine San Juan, which disappeared in November 2017, is found in the South Atlantic.
David Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sells for more than US$90 million, the highest price for a work by a living artist at auction.
The General Conference on Weights and Measures confirms new definitions for the units kilogram, ampere, kelvin and mole.

On this day

November 23: Guru Nanak Gurpurab (Sikhism, 2018); Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan

Edwin Hubble

1733 – African slaves from Akwamu in the Danish West Indies revolted against their owners, one of the earliest and longest slave revolts in the Americas.
1867 – The Manchester Martyrs were hanged in Manchester, England, for killing a police officer while helping two Irish nationalists escape from police custody.
1924 – The New York Times published evidence from Edwin Hubble (pictured) that stated the Andromeda Nebula, previously believed to be part of the Milky Way, is actually another galaxy—one of many in the universe.
1996 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was hijacked, then crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125 of the 175 people on board.
2012 – "Il Canto degli Italiani" officially became the national anthem of Italy, 66 years after it was provisionally chosen following the birth of the Italian Republic.

Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (d. 1833) · Shangguan Yunzhu (d. 1968) · Miley Cyrus (b. 1992)

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From today's featured list

Tower Building

The industrial town of Widnes contains 22 buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated listed buildings. Of these, 5 are classified at Grade II*, and 17 at Grade II; Widnes has no Grade I listed buildings. In the United Kingdom, the term "listed building" refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical, or cultural significance. Before 1847, the area now occupied by the town of Widnes consisted of the hamlets of Farnworth, Cronton, Appleton, and Upton; a few scattered houses; and areas of mostly marshy farmland. In 1833 a canal and a railway reached the area; the Sankey Canal was extended to a point on the River Mersey to the east of Runcorn Gap and the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway established a terminus adjacent to the canal. The town's listed buildings reflect its history. The oldest, St Luke's Church in the former village of Farnworth, dates from the 12th century. Also built before 1847 are three houses, a bridewell adjacent to St Luke's Church, and the lock at the terminus of the Sankey Canal. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

xkcd is a webcomic created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe. Describing itself as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language", its subjects include statements on life and love as well as mathematical, programming, and scientific in-jokes. Although it has a cast of stick figures, the comic occasionally features landscapes, graphs, and intricate mathematical patterns such as fractals. New cartoons are added three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

This picture is an xkcd cartoon titled Wikipedian Protester, one of several references to Wikipedia which have appeared in the comic.

Image: Randall Munroe (xkcd).

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