Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 February 11

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Today's featured article
Trevor Linden (born 1970) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played centre and right wing with four teams: the Vancouver Canucks (in two stints), New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals. In addition to appearing in two NHL All-Star Games, Linden was a member of the 1998 Canadian Olympic team and participated in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. Throughout his career, Linden has been recognized as a respected leader on and off the ice. He was named captain of the Canucks at the age of 21, making him one of the youngest captains in league history. While captaining the Canucks, Linden led the team to within a game of winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. It was during this time that he began to be called Captain Canuck. In 1998 he was elected President of the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), a position he held for eight years. As President, he played an instrumental role in the 2004–05 NHL lockout, including negotiations with league owners. After 19 seasons in the NHL, Linden retired on June 11, 2008, twenty years to the day after he was drafted into the NHL. Linden's jersey number 16 was retired by the Canucks on December 17, 2008, the second number retired by the team. (more...) Recently featured: Big Butte Creek – Hurricane Nate – Vijayanagara Empire Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Richard Childress Racing driver Tim George, Jr. (pictured) was originally a professional chef? ... that attendance at meetings of New York's Albany Institute declined in the 1830s because members were bored by papers presented by the group's meteorologist? ... that Russian submarine B-585 Saint Petersburg was launched on the 300th anniversary of the Russian city of Saint Petersburg? ... that Captain America in: The Doom Tube of Dr. Megalomann was the first appearance of Captain America in a video game? ... that the clawless lobster Tricarina is known from a single fossil, obtained from an oil well 3,852 m (12,638 ft) below ground in western Iran? ... that Queens Park Rangers came from two goals down at half time in the 1967 Football League Cup Final to eventually win with a goal scored by Mark Lazarus? ... that King Gustav III of Sweden, in an experiment, commuted the death sentences of a pair of twins on the condition that one drank 3 pots of coffee, and the other tea, every day for the rest of their lives? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Mohammed Waheed Hassan (pictured) is sworn in as President of the Maldives following the resignation of Mohamed Nasheed. Queen Elizabeth II, the second-longest reigning British monarch, celebrates her Diamond Jubilee. An earthquake off the coast of Negros Oriental, Philippines, kills 81 people and causes extensive damage. Russian scientists reportedly reach Lake Vostok, a body of water isolated under the Antarctic ice shield, after drilling a borehole 12,362 feet (3,768 m) deep. Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador, who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, is stripped of his 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giro d'Italia victories and banned from competition until August 5, 2012. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
February 11: Victory of the Revolution in Iran (1979), National Foundation Day in Japan 1250 – Seventh Crusade: After three days of fighting, the Ayyubids successfully defended Al Mansurah, Egypt, from invading crusaders. 1826 – University College London was founded as the first secular university in England. 1858 – Fourteen-year-old peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous (pictured) reported the first of eighteen Marian apparitions in Lourdes, France, resulting in the town becoming a major site for pilgrimages by Catholics. 1919 – Friedrich Ebert was elected the first President of the German Weimar Republic by the Weimar National Assembly. 1938 – The BBC aired an adaptation of Karel Čapek's play R.U.R., the first science fiction television programme ever broadcast. 1990 – Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, was released from Victor Verster Prison near Paarl, South Africa. More anniversaries: February 10 – February 11 – February 12 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now February 11, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A romanticized depiction of a tramp smoking a cigar with a cane over his arm, from an 1899 poster. In American English, a tramp is a homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally on foot. In British English, the term only refers to a homeless person, usually not a traveling one. The term "tramp" is derived from the Middle English as a verb meaning to "walk with heavy footsteps" (cf. modern English "trample").

Image: Russell-Morgan Print; Restoration: Adam Cuerden

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