Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 February 18

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From today's featured article

Statue of Neferefre in the Cairo Egyptian Museum

Neferefre was a pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt in the 25th century BC, during the Old Kingdom period. Known as prince Ranefer before he ascended the throne, he was probably the eldest son of pharaoh Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II. Neferefre started a pyramid for himself in the royal necropolis of Abusir and was buried in it, although it was unfinished. The pyramid was roughly completed by his brother Nyuserre Ini, who succeeded him after the rule of Shepseskare. Fragments of Neferefre's mummy indicate that he died in his early twenties, after two years of reign. A single text shows that he had planned or just started to build a sun temple called Hotep-Re, meaning "Ra is content" or "Ra's offering table". Like other Fifth Dynasty kings, he benefited from a funerary cult, but the cult was abandoned by the late Old Kingdom. Because his pyramid and mortuary complex were unfinished, they may have attracted less attention from grave and stone robbers than nearby pyramids. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Blue Bridge on the A1206

... that the names of several side roads and buildings along the A1206 (bridge pictured) in London relate to the Isle of Dogs' connection with the shipping industry?
... that Vasily Bakalov oversaw the design of weapon systems to destroy tanks, such as the 9M113 Konkurs, and to protect tanks, such as the Drozd?
... that Newsweek described the Goucher College campus in Towson, Maryland, as "unusually bucolic"?
... that in the 1830s, a Mère in Lyon, France, became famous for her creation Tétons de Venus ('Venus's Breasts'), a dish of giant dumplings that was popular at bachelor parties?
... that the church of Santa Maria della Purità in Rome was managed by caudatari, priests whose main task was to carry the trains of the pope or cardinals?
... that Samuel Bacon, government agent on the first American Colonization Society expedition, died of "actual exhaustion" soon after arriving in Africa?
... that The Myth of the Eastern Front explores the parallels between the myth of the clean Wehrmacht and the Lost Cause of the Confederacy?
... that Lisa Cristiani was the first European to hold public musical concerts in Siberia?

In the news

Bong Joon-ho

The Irish general election concludes with no party holding a majority of seats in Dáil Éireann.
South Korean film Parasite wins four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Bong Joon-ho (pictured).
A mass shooting in Korat, Thailand, leaves 30 people dead and more than 50 others injured.
Two avalanches near the Turkish town of Bahçesaray kill at least 41 people.

On this day

February 18

Vasil Levski

1637 – Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, a Spanish fleet intercepted an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of forty-four vessels escorted by six men-of-war, destroying or capturing twenty ships.
1781 – Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: A British expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa landed in Elmina in present-day Ghana.
1873 – Vasil Levski (pictured), a national hero of Bulgaria, was executed in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities for his efforts to establish an independent Bulgarian republic.
1946 – President Harry S. Truman signed the Rescission Act, annulling benefits payable to Filipino troops who fought for the U.S. during World War II.
2010 – In a coup d'état, military rebels attacked the presidential palace in Niamey, Niger, and replaced President Mamadou Tandja with a ruling junta, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

Joseph Marie Terray (d. 1778) · Ramakrishna (b. 1836) · Toni Morrison (b. 1931)

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Today's featured picture

Bosc's fringe-toed lizard (Acanthodactylus boskianus) is a medium-sized species of lizard found in northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Active during the day, they are energetic foragers for insects and other small invertebrates, and are one of the most common lizards in their range. Males and females are similar in appearance, both having a snout-to-vent length of between 5 and 8 cm (2.0 and 3.1 in), but males are usually larger. The feet have long slender digits that are fringed. The dorsal surface is olive-grey with five longitudinal dark stripes, the middle one of which subdivides at the neck, while the ventral surface is whitish, but in the female, the underside of the tail becomes suffused with red during the breeding season. In juveniles, the tail is blue.

This picture shows two A. b. asper lizards photographed in Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan, engaging in a love bite, a courtship ritual that may be connected to certain chemical cues present in the skin.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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