Wikipedia article of the day for May 31, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 31, 2020 is British hydrogen bomb programme.
The British hydrogen bomb programme was the ultimately successful British effort to develop thermonuclear weapons. The successful test of an atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane in 1952 made Britain a nuclear power, but hopes that the United States would be sufficiently impressed to restore the Special Relationship were soon disappointed. In 1954, Cabinet agreed to proceed with the development of the hydrogen bomb. The scientists at the Atomic Weapons Establishment did not know how to build one, but produced three designs: Orange Herald, a large boosted fission weapon; Green Bamboo, an interim design; and Green Granite, a true thermonuclear design. The first series of Operation Grapple tests (newsreel featured) were hailed as a success, but Green Granite was a failure. In November 1957, they successfully tested a thermonuclear design. Subsequent tests demonstrated a mastery of the technology. Together with the Sputnik crisis, this resulted in the 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement, and the Special Relationship was restored.

Wikipedia article of the day for May 30, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 30, 2020 is Samuel Mulledy.
Samuel Mulledy (1811–1866) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit. Born in Virginia, he attended Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., where his brother, Thomas F. Mulledy, was the president. He then entered the Society of Jesus in 1831 and proved to be a good student. He was sent to Rome to study for the priesthood and to prepare for teaching. Upon his return, he held senior academic positions, culminating in his appointment as president of Georgetown College in 1845. Mulledy reluctantly accepted the position but requested to be relieved just eight months later. He continued to teach and minister, until his expulsion from the Jesuit order in 1850 due to alcoholism. For the next decade, he was a transient at churches in Massachusetts and New York, until being assigned to St. Lawrence O’Toole in New York City, where he remained for the rest of his life. On his deathbed, Mulledy successfully petitioned to be re-admitted to the Society of Jesus.

Wikipedia article of the day for May 29, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 29, 2020 is Pod (The Breeders album).
Pod is the debut album by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released by 4AD records on May 29, 1990. Engineered by Steve Albini, it features band leader Kim Deal (pictured) on vocals and guitar, Josephine Wiggs on bass, Britt Walford on drums, and Tanya Donelly on guitar. The Breeders formed in 1988 when Deal, a member of the Pixies, befriended Donelly of Throwing Muses during a European tour. They recorded a country-infused demo in 1989, leading to 4AD co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell funding an album, Pod, recorded that year at the Palladium studio in Edinburgh, Scotland. The album became a critical and popular success, reaching number 22 in the UK. Critics praised its dark, sexualized lyrics, and compared it favorably to the Pixies. Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain said it was one of his favorite records, and Pitchfork ranked it number 81 on its list of the best albums of the 1990s. The cover art was designed by Vaughan Oliver and portrays a man performing a fertility dance while wearing a belt of eels.

Wikipedia article of the day for May 28, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 28, 2020 is Great spotted woodpecker.
The great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) is a medium-sized woodpecker with pied black and white plumage and a red patch on the lower belly. Males and young birds also have red markings on the neck or head. This species is found across Eurasia and parts of North Africa, in all types of woodlands. Some individuals have a tendency to wander, leading to the recent recolonisation of Ireland. Great spotted woodpeckers chisel into trees to find food or excavate nest holes, and also drum for contact and territorial advertisement; they have anatomical adaptations to manage the physical stresses from the hammering action. They can extract seeds from pine cones and insect larvae from inside trees, and will eat eggs and chicks of other birds. Both parents incubate the clutch of four to six eggs and continue to feed the chicks for about ten days after they fledge. The species has a large population and is not threatened.

Wikipedia article of the day for May 27, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 27, 2020 is Australasian Antarctic Expedition.
The Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–1914), headed by Douglas Mawson, explored the largely uncharted coast of Antarctica due south of Australia. Mawson was inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition in 1907–1909. During its time in Antarctica, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition’s sledging parties covered around 2,600 miles (4,180 km) of unexplored territory. Its ship, SY Aurora (pictured), navigated 1,800 miles (2,900 km) of unmapped coastline. Scientific activities included meteorological measurements, magnetic observations, an expansive oceanographic program, and the collection of many biological and geological samples, including the discovery of the first meteorite found in Antarctica. The expedition was the first to establish and maintain wireless contact between Antarctica and Australia. Its broad exploration program laid the groundwork for Australia’s later territorial claims in Antarctica.

Wikipedia article of the day for May 26, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 26, 2020 is Paul E. Patton.
Paul E. Patton (born May 26, 1937) is an American politician who served as the 59th governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. He became wealthy operating coal mines for 20 years, then sold most of his coal interests in the late 1970s and entered politics. After serving briefly in the cabinet of Governor John Y. Brown Jr. and chairing the state Democratic Party, he was elected lieutenant governor in 1991. Four years later, he was elected governor over the Republican Party’s Larry Forgy. The major achievement of Patton’s first term was overhauling higher education, including making the state’s community colleges and technical schools independent of the University of Kentucky and organizing them into the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to succeed himself in office since James Garrard in 1800, and he was re-elected in 1999.

Wikipedia article of the day for May 25, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 25, 2020 is Hurricane Fred (2015).
Hurricane Fred was the easternmost Atlantic hurricane ever to form in the tropics, and the first to move through Cape Verde since 1892. The second hurricane of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season, Fred became a Category 1 hurricane on August 31 as it approached Cape Verde, which was placed under a hurricane warning for the first time ever. The Barlavento Islands endured gales and flooding rains as the eye of the hurricane paralleled their shorelines. Structural damage across Boa Vista and Sal presented as leveled roofs, damaged homes and toppled utility poles. Farmers on São Nicolau suffered crop and livestock losses when they saw their lands flood. Fred’s rains, though destructive, alleviated a drought across the Sotavento Islands of Cape Verde. Elsewhere, violent seas along the West African shoreline destroyed fishing villages and submerged homes in Senegal. Between the coasts of West Africa and Cape Verde, nine people died in maritime incidents.

Wikipedia article of the day for May 24, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 24, 2020 is Worcestershire v Somerset, 1979.
On 24 May 1979, in a game against Worcestershire, Somerset County Cricket Club captain Brian Rose chose to declare his team’s innings closed after one over, throwing the game to manipulate a loophole in the rules. He was aiming to avoid elimination on a strike rate tie-breaker from the quarterfinals of the 1979 Benson & Hedges Cup, a one-day cricket competition for counties in England and Wales. After Somerset scored one run and declared, Worcestershire scored the two runs they needed to win. The match at New Road (pictured) in Worcester was completed in 18 minutes, with only 16 legal deliveries. Although Somerset’s declaration was within the Laws of Cricket, Rose was condemned by the press and cricket officials. Just over a week after the match, the Test and County Cricket Board met for an emergency session and voted to eject Somerset from the competition by a vote of seventeen to one. The Laws were later changed to ban declarations in professional one-day cricket.

Wikipedia article of the day for May 23, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 23, 2020 is Anne Hathaway.
Anne Hathaway (born 1982) is an American actress. The recipient of multiple awards, she was one of the highest-paid actresses in the world in 2015, and her films have earned more than $6.8 billion worldwide. She made her breakthrough in The Princess Diaries (2001). After roles in the 2005 dramas Havoc and Brokeback Mountain, she played an assistant to a fashion magazine editor in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), and a recovering alcoholic in Rachel Getting Married (2008). She starred in the romantic films Bride Wars (2009), Valentine’s Day (2010), and Love & Other Drugs (2010), and in the fantasy film Alice in Wonderland (2010). In 2012, Hathaway starred as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises and as Fantine in the musical drama Les Misérables, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played a scientist in Interstellar (2014), the owner of an online fashion site in the comedy The Intern (2015), and a haughty actress in the heist film Ocean’s 8 (2018).

Wikipedia article of the day for May 22, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for May 22, 2020 is 1962 Tour de France.
The 1962 Tour de France was the 49th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling’s Grand Tours. The 4,274-kilometre (2,656 mi) race consisted of 22 stages, including two split stages, starting in Nancy on 24 June and finishing at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 15 July. For the first time since 1929, the Tour was contested by trade teams instead of national teams. Victory in the individual time trial of stage 20 put Jacques Anquetil (pictured) in the general classification leader’s yellow jersey, which he held until the conclusion of the race to win his third Tour de France, defending his title. Jef Planckaert placed second, and Raymond Poulidor third. In the other race classifications, Rudi Altig won the points classification, and Federico Bahamontes won the mountains classification. Anquetil’s team Saint-Raphaël–Helyett–Hutchinson won the team classification, and Eddy Pauwels won the award for most combative rider. Altig and Emile Daems won the most stages, with three each.