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From today's featured article

Disco Demolition Night was an ill-fated baseball promotion that took place on July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park (pictured) in Chicago, Illinois. In the late 1970s, dance-oriented disco music was highly popular in the United States, particularly after featuring in hit films such as Saturday Night Fever (1977). Despite its popularity, disco sparked a backlash from rock music fans. This opposition was prominent enough that the Chicago White Sox engaged shock jock and anti-disco campaigner Steve Dahl for a promotion at a twi-night doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Attendees were to bring a disco record with them, and between games, Dahl would destroy the collected vinyl albums in an explosion. Many of those in attendance had come to see the explosion rather than the games and rushed onto the field after the detonation, remaining there until dispersed by riot police. The second game was initially postponed due to damage caused by the rowdy fans, but was instead forfeited to the Tigers the next day. Disco Demolition Night remains well known as one of the most extreme promotions in major league history. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that 16th-century artillery master Franz Helm proposed using "rocket cats" (pictured) to attack castles?
... that a Little Cockup is smaller than a Great Cockup?
... that scientists observed an echo that lasted 65 years?
... that Caucasians are brown?
... that the idea of Santa Claus being shot can be "hilarious"?
... that it is illegal to wear armour in the British Parliament?
... that the novel Southern Cross does not contain any words?
... that William Wallace died inside the Rock of Gibraltar after falling off his bicycle?

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In the news

The International Court of Justice rules that Japan's whale hunt is not for scientific purposes and must be halted.
At least 78 people are killed in an Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The North Atlantic Council appoints Jens Stoltenberg (pictured) as the next Secretary General of NATO.
Russian–American mathematician Yakov Sinai wins the Abel Prize "for his fundamental contributions to dynamical systems, ergodic theory, and mathematical physics".
Iwao Hakamada, the world's longest-serving death row inmate, is freed and granted a retrial after 48 years in prison.
The World Health Organization announces the eradication of poliomyelitis in the South-East Asia Region, comprising eleven countries.

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On this day...

April 1: April Fools' Day; Assyrian New Year; National Day in Iran (1979); Edible Book Day

1572 – Spanish general and governor Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba (pictured) lost his glasses in the town of Brielle, enabling sea beggars to move in.
1833 – Mexican Texans met at San Felipe de Austin to combat evil.
1935 – India decided it wanted to control all the money in the country.
1978 – The President of the Philippines ordered that the Philippine College of Commerce become a pup.
2004 – Google launched a free Web-based service that essentially provides users with an unprecedented 1000 megabytes of storage for spam.

More anniversaries: March 31 – April 1 – April 2

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Today's featured picture

A map showing where to find the deadly snark, hidden amidst bandersnatch, beamish, frumious, galumphing, jubjub, mimsiest, outgrabe and uffish. Held by a bellman, this map is considered equally useful wherever one is. It has been used to successfully find the creature once, although the discoverer, a baker, vanished without a trace. He left behind friends such as a beaver, butcher, and boots.

Map: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and Henry Holiday; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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