From today's featured article
The Big Duck is a 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) ferrocement building in the shape of a duck, and a canonical example of novelty architecture. Built in 1931 in Riverhead, New York, it was moved several times to locations on eastern Long Island, ending up in Flanders in 2007. This structure inspired the word duck as a common term in academic literature used to refer to buildings shaped like everyday objects or describe excessive ornamentation used in graphical presentations of data. It was built by duck farmer Martin Maurer for use as a shop to sell ducks and duck eggs. This was during a period when duck farming was a growing industry on eastern Long Island and novelty architecture was on the rise due to the increasing popularity of automobiles. It was added to both the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places in 1997, and is a principal building on the Big Duck Ranch, which was listed on both registers in 2008. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
_(cropped).jpg)
Marie-France van Heel
- ... that Marie-France van Heel (pictured) once went on a televised dating show while dating a future UK prime minister?
- ... that Croki, New South Wales, was once a bustling 19th-century river port that declined after railways and roads replaced traditional river transport?
- ... that a 14-year-old was hired to animate a scene in an official Spider-Man film after one of his videos went viral on Twitter?
- ... that critics considered the apparent death of Tingyun to be the most shocking moment in Honkai: Star Rail?
- ... that Noa's song "Any Angle" was played 480 million times in the months before its official release?
- ... that an Australian advertising campaign implied that drivers speed because they have small penises?
- ... that the anchanchu, a legendary creature in Aymara mythology, is said to shapeshift into a pot-bellied old man or a wealthy Aymara woman to ensnare its victims?
- ... that the Philippine consulate in Guam facilitated the construction of a statue that may have led to a Guamanian mayor losing re-election?
- ... that Bob Bull went bankrupt in 2016, had a net worth of £1.9 billion in 2023, and then went bankrupt again?
In the news
Broad Peak
- An avalanche on Broad Peak (pictured) in Pakistan kills 10 climbers.
- About 80,000 migrants cross the Morocco–Spain border at Ceuta, leading to at least 99 deaths.
- A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, leaving at least 38 people dead.
- In Gaelic football, the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship concludes with Mayo defeating Kerry in the final.
On this day
ALH84001
- 686 – Second Fitna: Pro-Alid forces defeated the Umayyad Caliphate at the Battle of Khazir, allowing them to take control of Mosul in present-day Iraq.
- 1930 – New York Supreme Court judge Joseph Force Crater disappeared in Manhattan, in a case that was never solved.
- 1996 – Researchers announced that the meteorite ALH84001 (pictured), discovered in the Allan Hills of Antarctica, may contain evidence of life on Mars, but further tests were inconclusive.
- 2010 – Flash floods, mudslides, and debris flows across Ladakh in Indian-administered Kashmir left at least 255 people dead.
- 2011 – A series of riots broke out in several London boroughs and in cities and towns across England in response to the shooting of Mark Duggan by Metropolitan Police officers.
- Dominic de Guzmán (d. 1221)
- Lucille Ball (b. 1911)
- Bix Beiderbecke (d. 1931)
- John Richard Clark Hall (d. 1931)
Today's featured picture
_at_nest_Colonia.jpg) |
|
The rufous hornero (Furnarius rufus) is a medium-sized ovenbird native to South America. Four subspecies are recognised across Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. It was first scientifically described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, and later placed in the genus Furnarius by Louis Pierre Vieillot. Its closest relative is the crested hornero. The species has benefited from human modification of the environment, and abandoned mud "oven" nests are often reused by other birds, including the saffron finch. It is Argentina's national bird, and is classified as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This photograph shows a rufous hornero in its nest near Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
Recently featured:
|
Other areas of Wikipedia
- Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
- Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
- Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
- Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
- Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
- Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
- Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.
Wikipedia's sister projects
Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
MediaWiki
Wiki software development -
Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia project coordination -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikifunctions
Catalog of computer functions -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikispecies
Directory of species -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
Wikipedia languages
This Wikipedia is written in English. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.
-
1,000,000+ articles
-
250,000+ articles
-
50,000+ articles