Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 July 23

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From today's featured article

The Coinage Act of 1965 eliminated silver from the United States dime (ten-cent piece) and quarter dollar, and also reduced the silver content of the half dollar from 90 percent to 40 percent. There had been coin shortages beginning in 1959, and the United States Bureau of the Mint expanded production to try to meet demand. Increased industrial demand for silver drove its price higher; there was widespread hoarding of silver coins. With government stocks of the metal being depleted, President Lyndon B. Johnson recommended that Congress allow silverless dimes and quarters, and debased silver half dollars. Congress passed the bill rapidly and Johnson signed it on July 23, 1965. The new coins began to enter circulation in late 1965, and alleviated the shortages. Precious metal coins vanished from circulation beginning in 1967 as the price of silver rose. The act also banned the production of silver dollars until at least 1970. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Monument to the T-7 rocket

... that China's first sounding rocket (monument pictured) was fueled using a bicycle pump?
... that Mandy Moore choreographed La La Land's opening number using 30 dancers, 100 extras, and 60 cars stuck in traffic on a Los Angeles freeway?
... that at the 2019 Austria Open, a 9-ball pool tournament, Kamila Khodjaeva reached the quarter-finals despite not playing a competitive match since 2016?
... that Summer Rayne Oakes has been called "the world's first eco-model" because she only models clothes made from organic or recycled materials?
... that rooks are intelligent birds and can rival or even beat chimpanzees in puzzle-solving tests?
... that George Ali Murad Khan, ruler of the princely state of Khairpur in Pakistan, survived an accidental shooting by his father when he was nine months old?
... that per a recent Supreme Court ruling, U.S. states are immune from private suits against them in courts of other states without their consent?
... that £100,000,000 notes known as "Titans" are locked away in the Bank of England?

In the news

Ricardo Rosselló

Protesters demand the resignation of Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rosselló (pictured), following a social messaging scandal with his cabinet.
Avengers: Endgame becomes the highest-grossing film, surpassing Avatar.
An arson attack at an animation studio in Kyoto, Japan, kills at least 34 people.
The World Health Organization declares the Ebola outbreak in Congo an international public health emergency.

On this day

July 23: Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari)

Comet Hale–Bopp

1319 – A fleet led by the Knights Hospitaller sank 22 of 28 ships of the Turkish Aydınid emirate.
1914 – Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum to allow them to investigate the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which Serbia would ultimately reject, leading to World War I.
1927 – Wilfred Rhodes of England and Yorkshire became the only person to play in 1,000 first-class cricket matches.
1982 – During the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie in Valencia, California, a helicopter crashed, killing three people and leading to new safety standards.
1995 – Hale–Bopp (pictured), one of the most widely observed comets of the 20th century, was discovered by two independent observers, Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp.

He Ning (d. 955) · Red Dutton (b. 1897) · Daniel Radcliffe (b. 1989)

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Today's featured picture

Canis Major (Latin for 'greater dog') is a constellation in the southern hemisphere's summer sky and the northern hemisphere's winter sky. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Along with Canis Minor, it is commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion, the hunter, through the skies. The Milky Way passes through Canis Major. Several open clusters lie within its borders, including M41, which covers an area around the same size as the full moon. Canis Major contains Sirius, also known as the "dog star", the brightest star in the night sky and one of the closest stars to Earth. The other bright stars in the constellation are much farther away but very luminous. At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) appears as the second brightest star of the constellation and is the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the night sky. Next in brightness are the yellow-white supergiant Delta (Wezen), at magnitude 1.8, the blue-white giant Beta (Mirzam), at magnitude 2.0 and the blue-white supergiant Eta (Aludra), at magnitude 2.4. The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest known stars, while the neutron star RX J0720.4−3125 has a radius of a mere 5 km (3 mi).

This illustration, which also features the constellations Lepus, Columba Noachi (now Columba) and Cela Sculptoris (now Caelum), was produced around 1823 and comes from Urania's Mirror, a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards.

Lithograph credit: Sidney Hall; restored by Adam Cuerden

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