Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 August 14

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Today's featured article
Choe Bu (1454–1504) was a Korean official during the early Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910). He is best known for the account of his shipwrecked travels in China from February to July 1488, during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). He was eventually banished from the Joseon court in 1498 and executed in 1504 during two political purges. However, in 1506 he was exonerated and given posthumous honors by the Joseon court. Choe's diary accounts of his travels in China became widely printed in the 16th century in both Korea and Japan. Modern historians also utilize his written works, since his travel diary provides a unique outsider's perspective on Chinese culture in the 15th century and valuable information on China's cities and regional differences. The attitudes and opinions expressed in his writing represent in part the standpoints and views of the 15th-century Confucian Korean literati, who viewed Chinese culture as compatible with and similar to their own. His description of cities, people, customs, cuisines, and maritime commerce along China's Grand Canal provide insight into the daily life of China and how it differed between northern and southern China during the 15th century. (more...) Recently featured: Tropic Thunder – North Island – Malagasy cuisine Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the 19th-century swindler Bertha Heyman (pictured), known as "The Confidence Queen," conned men by pretending to be a wealthy woman who was unable to access her fortune? ... that in the Holmes' no Mokushiroku story arc of the Case Closed series, the character Minerva Glass was based on professional tennis player Steffi Graf? ... that Roscoe C. Wilson was the United States Army Air Forces liaison to the Manhattan Project? ... that although the slender devil's twine looks and behaves like dodder, it is a laurel? ... that Wacław Gluth-Nowowiejski's World War II memoir The Commonwealth of Ruins, about his experience of hiding in a destroyed city as a Robinson Crusoe of Warsaw, was adapted into a short comic? ... that computer input methods are blamed for individuals forgetting how to write Chinese characters? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
The Saint Petersburg Dam (pictured), aimed to protect Saint Petersburg from catastrophic flooding, is completed in the Gulf of Finland. Scientists discover the first evidence of live birth among plesiosaurs. Apple wins a temporary injunction in a patent lawsuit, blocking the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in most of the European Union. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania report preliminary success in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia using gene therapy. Rioting, initially sparked by a fatal police shooting in London, spreads across parts of England. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
August 14: Ghost Festival (Chinese calendar, 2011); Tu B'Av (Judaism, 2011) 1880 – Construction of the Cologne Cathedral (pictured)—Germany's most visited landmark—was completed, 632 years after it had begun. 1980 – Lech Wałęsa and colleagues at Gdańsk Shipyard began strike actions, which subsequently led to the founding of the Solidarity movement in Poland. 1987 – Australian Federal Police raided the compound owned by the Santiniketan Park Association and freed a number of children who had been held there illegally. 1994 – International fugitive Carlos the Jackal, wanted for a number of terrorist attacks in Europe, was handed over to French agents by Sudanese officials. 1996 – Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou was shot to death by Turkish forces while trying to remove a Turkish flag from a flagpole in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus. More anniversaries: August 13 – August 14 – August 15 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now August 14, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A male Splendid Fairywren (Malurus splendens), a passerine bird found throughout much of Australia. This individual is engaged in the 'face fan' courtship display, in which he flares his blue ear tufts by erecting the feathers. The species exhibits a high degree of sexual dimorphism: males in breeding plumage are brightly coloured, whereas non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown; this gave the early impression that males were polygamous as all dull-coloured birds were taken for females.

Photo: Nevil Lazarus

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