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Today's featured article

Mount Edziza volcanic complex

The Mount Edziza volcanic complex (MEVC) is a group of volcanoes and associated lava flows in northwest British Columbia, Canada. Located on the Tahltan Highland, the MEVC has a broad, steep-sided lava plateau; its highest summit is 2,786 metres (9,140 feet). Its volcanoes formed over the last 7.5 million years during five cycles of magmatic activity which spanned four epochs; the most recent eruptions took place in the last 11,000 years. Current activity occurs in the form of hot springs. The MEVC has warm summers and cold, snowy winters; snow and ice remain on the highest peaks year-round. Indigenous peoples have lived adjacent to the MEVC for thousands of years. Historically, the local Tahltan people used volcanic glass from the MEVC to make tools and weaponry. Animal species such as birds, rodents, bears, sheep, goats, moose and caribou inhabit the area. A large provincial park dominates the MEVC, which can only be accessed by aircraft or by a network of footpaths. (Full article...)

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Today's featured picture

InSight

InSight was an American spacecraft mission launched by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, consisting of a robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of the planet Mars. Launched in 2018, the mission was active until late 2022, when contact with the lander was lost. InSight's objectives were to place a seismometer on the surface of Mars to measure seismic activity and provide accurate three-dimensional models of the planet's interior, and to measure internal heat transfer using a heat probe to study Mars's early geological evolution. This was intended to provide a new understanding of how the Solar System's terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) as well as the Moon formed and evolved. This 2015 photograph shows three technicians working on the InSight lander with its solar panels deployed during preflight testing in a cleanroom in Denver, Colorado.

Photograph credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Lockheed Martin

Yesterday's featured picture

De Viron Castle

De Viron Castle is a castle in the town of Dilbeek in Flemish Brabant, Belgium. Commissioned by the de Viron family—which had settled in Dilbeek in 1775—the Renaissance Revival castle was built in 1863 by Jean-Pierre Cluysenaar, on the ruins of a 14th-century fortification that had been destroyed the previous year. One of the medieval towers, the Sint-Alenatoren, can still be seen in the park surrounding the current building and is named after Saint Alena, who lived in Dilbeek. The castle has served as the town hall of Dilbeek and housed the offices of the municipality since 1923, and was listed as a Belgian protected monument in 1990. This photograph shows the facade of De Viron Castle with the surrounding park in the foreground.

Photograph credit: Benoit Brummer

Featured Picture from Day before Yesterday

Five views of a Viviparus georgianus shell

Viviparus georgianus, commonly known as the banded mystery snail, is a species of large freshwater snail in the family Viviparidae, the river snails. It is native to North America, generally found from the northeastern United States to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, and thrives in eutrophic lentic environments such as lakes, ponds and some low-flow streams. The snail has two distinct sexes and reproduces more than once in a lifetime, with females laying eggs singly in albumen-filled capsules. It feeds on diatom clusters found on silt and mud substrates, but it may also require the ingestion of some grit to be able to break down algae. This image shows five views of a 2.1 cm high (0.83 in) V. georgianus shell, originally collected in the U.S. state of Georgia and now in the collection of the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe in Germany.

Photograph credit: H. Zell

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Featured Picture from Two Days before Yesterday

Lucia Chamberlain

Lucia Chamberlain (1882–1978) was an American novelist. Her 1909 book was the basis of the 1916 film The Other Side of the Door, and her 1917 short story "The Underside" formed the basis of the 1920 film Blackmail. The 1916 film The Wedding Guest is also based on her writing. This photograph of Chamberlain was taken around 1908 by the American portrait photographer Zaida Ben-Yusuf, and is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Photograph credit: Zaida Ben-Yusuf; restored by Adam Cuerden

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Principles

Religion in Society

There is a great disconnect between how athiests and religionist view the proper place for religion in the public square. Briefly, atheists (usually) want no religion in the public square, and religionists want equal access (non-denominational) to the public square and view athiesm as just one other "religion" that needs access.

Wikipedia's Reputation

I've been thinking about this key principle: "[What] reliable sources ... have in common is process and approval between document creation and publication." This is also the key to Wikipedia's reliability and reputation. The core principles of neutrality and verifiability along with the standards for articles (featured/good/etc) and the implicit approval of every person who reads an article and makes no changes to it.

Intellectual Property

We (Americans) often "borrow" other people's intellectual property because the transaction method (i.e. limited use permission) does not exist and can not be created without the transaction cost exceeding the value of the permission (which is close to $0.00 in most cases) so we keep using other's work, and they don't sue us.

Committed identity: 958be6e36eac42126fb635b1513ec54d is a MD5 commitment to this user's real-life identity.

Alec Guinness edit that claims he believed Star Wars would be a big hit