Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 October 6

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From today's featured article

The Long Island Tercentenary half dollar is a commemorative coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936. The obverse (pictured) depicts a male Dutch settler and an Algonquian tribesman, and the reverse shows a Dutch sailing ship. It was designed by Howard Weinman, son of Mercury dime designer Adolph A. Weinman. The Long Island Tercentenary Committee wanted a coin to mark the 300th anniversary of the first European settlement there. The authorizing bill passed through Congress without opposition, but was amended in the Senate to add protections against past commemorative coin abuses, such as low mintages or a multiplicity of varieties. The coins were not struck until August 1936, too late for the anniversary celebrations. Four-fifths of the 100,000 coins sent to the Tercentenary Committee were sold, despite a lack of advertising. The half dollar now catalogues up to the low hundreds of dollars. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

The monument in 2018

... that one of the plaques of the Fundadores de São Paulo monument (pictured) was stolen in 2004, and cannot be replaced due to incomplete records?
... that the robotic enemies in the video game The Incredible Hulk were influenced by Marvel Comics' objection to the Hulk killing humanoid characters?
... that Miles Dempsey replicated the feat of a distant ancestor by being knighted in the field?
... that the 1913 Studebaker strike is regarded as the first major labor strike in the automotive industry?
... that in 1786, antiquarian Catherine Downes was one of the first women to excavate a Roman villa?
... that the Wapsipinicon Almanac was started "to silence anyone who thinks Iowa doesn't have a literary culture"?
... that the founders of the Turkish Republic despised Turkish classical music and tried to censor it?
... that one of the smallest known species of frog is Mini scule?

In the news

David Julius

David Julius (pictured) and Ardem Patapoutian are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on biological temperature and touch receptors.
Fumio Kishida is elected to replace Yoshihide Suga as Prime Minister of Japan.
The Pandora Papers, 11.9 million documents relating to offshore investment, are leaked.
Joyciline Jepkosgei and Sisay Lemma win the London Marathon women's and men's races.

On this day

October 6: German-American Day in the United States

The Jazz Singer theatrical poster

618 – Wang Shichong's army defeated that of Li Mi, allowing Wang to consolidate his power and soon depose China's Sui dynasty.
1762 – Seven Years' War: The Battle of Manila concluded with a British victory over Spain, leading to a twenty-month occupation.
1927 – The Jazz Singer (poster pictured), one of the first feature-length motion pictures with a synchronized recorded music score, was released.
1976 – Two bombs placed by the CIA-linked Cuban dissident group Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations exploded on Cubana Flight 455, killing all 73 aboard.
1985 – Police constable Keith Blakelock was killed during rioting in the Broadwater Farm housing estate in Tottenham, London.

Samuel of Bulgaria (d. 1014)
Francesco Manfredini (d. 1762)
Sadiq al-Ahmar (b. 1956)

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Today's featured picture

Sulfur is an abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic chemical element. It is a bright yellow, crystalline solid at room temperature. Being abundantly available in native form, the element was known in ancient times and is referred to in the Torah (in the Book of Genesis). A natural form of sulfur known as shiliuhuang was known in China since the 6th century BC and found in Hanzhong. These sulfur crystals on a matrix, measuring 4.8 cm × 3.5 cm × 3 cm (1.9 in × 1.4 in × 1.2 in), was mined in Daniel Campos Province, Bolivia.Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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