Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 November 18

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From today's featured article

Walt Whitman, c. 1860

Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln never met, but the American poet greatly admired Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and was deeply affected by his assassination, writing several poems as elegies and giving a series of lectures on Lincoln. Shortly after the assassination, Whitman hastily wrote the first of his Lincoln poems, "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day". Two more appeared in his collection Sequel to Drum-Taps later in 1865: "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". The poems—particularly "My Captain!"—were popular upon publication and, in the following years, Whitman styled himself as an interpreter of Lincoln. In 1871, his fourth poem on Lincoln, "This Dust Was Once the Man", was published. "My Captain!" is still one of Whitman's most popular works, despite slipping in popularity and critical assessment since the early 1900s. "Lilacs" is often listed as one of Whitman's finest works. (This article is part of a featured topic: Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln.)

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Did you know ...

Handbags made from ring-pulls

... that the "Angel of the dump", Jane Walker, helps people in Manila create handbags (pictured) from reused ring-pulls?
... that the 2021 Illinois vs. Penn State football game was the first in NCAA history to reach nine overtimes?
... that racehorse Tipperary Tim won the 1928 Grand National at odds of 100-1?
... that the notorious labor spy and killer Charles Lively was so successful infiltrating the coal miners union that he once posed for a photo with the famed labor activist Mother Jones?
... that Symphyotrichum molle, the soft aster, can be found only in the Bighorn Mountains of Montana and Wyoming?
... that the title of Something That May Shock and Discredit You, a memoir by Daniel M. Lavery that explores themes including gender transition, is taken from a scene in The Simpsons?
... that although the fruits of Cola verticillata are considered inedible, they contain caffeine and are used to make a beverage?
... that upon hearing about a 600-worker walkout reportedly prompted by difficulties she caused, Dee Duponte responded "fiddlesticks"?

In the news

Asen Vasilev

Kosmos 1408 is destroyed by a Russian anti-satellite weapon and turned into space debris.
We Continue the Change, led by Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev (pictured), wins the most seats in the Bulgarian general election.
SpaceX's Crew-3 mission takes four astronauts to the International Space Station.
Former South African president F. W. de Klerk, who negotiated the end of apartheid with Nelson Mandela, dies at the age of 85.

On this day

November 18

Mark Twain in 1867

1210 – Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, was excommunicated by Pope Innocent III after Otto commanded him to annul the Concordat of Worms.
1865 – "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published, becoming the first great success of American author Mark Twain (pictured).
1956 – At the Polish embassy in Moscow, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said "We will bury you" while addressing Western envoys, prompting them to leave the room.
1991 – Croatian War of Independence: The Yugoslav People's Army captured the Croatian city of Vukovar, ending an 87-day siege.
2014 – Two Palestinian men attacked the praying congregants of a synagogue in Jerusalem with axes, knives, and a gun, resulting in eight deaths, including the attackers themselves.

Thomas Burgess (b. 1756)
Dorothy Dix (b. 1861)
Tara Singh Hayer (d. 1998)

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Today's featured picture

The Utah monolith was a three-meter-tall (9.8 ft) metal pillar that stood in a red sandstone slot canyon in northern San Juan County in the U.S. state of Utah. Made of metal sheets riveted into a triangular prism, it was unlawfully placed on public land between July and October 2016, and stood unnoticed for more than four years until its discovery and removal in late 2020. The identity of its makers, and their objectives, are unknown. Following its discovery, numerous similar metal columns, many of which were built by local artists as deliberate imitations, were erected in other places throughout the world. This photograph shows the Utah monolith at its original location.

Photograph credit: Patrick A. Mackie; retouched by Chainwit.

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