Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 October 26

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From today's featured article

Jaekelopterus was a predatory aquatic arthropod of the order of eurypterids, often called sea scorpions. Its claws and compound eyes indicate it was active and powerful with high visual acuity, most likely an apex predator in the ecosystems of Euramerica. Fossils have been discovered from roughly 400 million years ago, during the Early Devonian. There are two known species: the type species J. rhenaniae from brackish to fresh water strata in the Rhineland, and J. howelli from estuarine strata in Wyoming. Based on isolated fossil remains from the Klerf Formation of Germany, J. rhenaniae has been estimated to have reached a size of around 2.3–2.6 metres (7.5–8.5 ft), making it the largest arthropod ever discovered. J. howelli was much smaller, reaching 80 centimetres (2.6 ft) in length. In overall appearance, Jaekelopterus was similar to other pterygotid eurypterids, with enlarged pincers and forelimbs. The genus was named for German paleontologist Otto Jaekel, who described the type species. (Full article...)

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Manuscript folio of Shahnameh

... that the Khalili Collections (manuscript folio shown) comprise some 35,000 works of art assembled by Nasser D. Khalili over five decades?
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... that in 2019, Brigham Young University volleyball coach Heather Olmstead held the highest winning percentage of any women's volleyball coach in NCAA Division I history?
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In the news

Yurisbel Gracial

Thirty-nine people are found dead in a refrigerated lorry container in Grays, England.
In baseball, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks defeat the Yomiuri Giants to win the Japan Series (MVP Yurisbel Gracial pictured).
Amid days of violent protests in Bolivia, incumbent president Evo Morales is re-elected to office, though his party loses their majority in the Chamber.
In Santiago, Chile, protests over increased metro fares cause President Sebastián Piñera to declare a state of emergency.

On this day

October 26

George W. Bush signing the Patriot Act into law

1341 – The Byzantine army proclaimed chief minister John VI Kantakouzenos emperor, triggering a civil war between his supporters and those of John V Palaiologos, the heir to the throne.
1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous shootouts of the American Old West, took place in Tombstone, Arizona, between Ike Clanton's gang and lawmen including Wyatt Earp.
1909 – An Jung-geun, a Korean independence activist, assassinated Itō Hirobumi, the president of the Privy Council of Japan.
1977 – Somali hospital cook Ali Maow Maalin began displaying symptoms of smallpox, becoming the last person to be naturally infected by the disease.
2001 – President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law (pictured), significantly expanding the authority of law enforcement agencies in fighting terrorism in the United States and elsewhere.

Michael Maestlin (d. 1631) · C. W. Post (b. 1854) · Suhailah Noah (b. 1931)

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Today's featured picture

Macrocranion is a genus of extinct mammal from the Eocene epoch of Europe and North America. Exceptional fossils have been found in the Messel pit in Germany. Macrocranion species are often described as forest-floor predators, about the size of small squirrels but with longer limbs.

This picture shows an M. tupaiodon fossil, approximately 15 cm (6 in) in length, excavated at the Messel pit and on display in the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe.

Photograph credit: H. Zell

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