Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 January 15

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From today's featured article
The Hudson Valley Rail Trail is a paved 4-mile (6.4 km) east–west rail trail in Ulster County, New York, stretching from the Hudson River through the hamlet of Highland. It was originally part of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Route, a rail corridor that crossed the Hudson via the Poughkeepsie Bridge. Controlled by a variety of railroads throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the bridge was damaged and became unusable after a 1974 fire. The section of the corridor west of the Hudson was acquired from a convicted felon by Ulster County in 1991 and transferred to the town of Lloyd. During the 1990s, a broadband utility seeking to lay fiber optic cable paid the town to pass through the former corridor. The town used part of its payment to pave the route and open it as a public rail trail in 1997. While the trail originally ended at Route 44–55, it was extended eastward between 2009 and 2010, intersecting Route 9W and continuing to the Poughkeepsie Bridge. The bridge, now a pedestrian walkway, connects the trail with the Dutchess Rail Trail to the east, creating a 30-mile (48 km) rail trail system that spans the Hudson. The trail is expected to be extended west, where it will border Route 299. (Full article...) Recently featured: Adelaide leak – New Forest pony – Little Moreton Hall Archive – By email – More featured articles...
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From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that after assassinating a former warlord, Shi Jianqiao (pictured) distributed pamphlets explaining her deed? ... that the Gaulden Manor ceiling depicts Judgement Day? ... that Filipinos in Oman sent back US$66.5 million in remittances to the Philippines in 2011? ... that British High Commissioner Alan Jones had to order an evacuation in his first week in Sierra Leone? ... that ancestors of the fishtail oak of North Queensland diverged from the South American genus Roupala around 30 million years ago? ... that John Gatins, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Flight, got into scriptwriting when a fellow Vassar graduate offered him $1,000 to pen a screenplay? ... that due to a campaign in Turkey, speaking a language other than Turkish was illegal in many parts of the country? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Sri Lankan Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake refuses to accept her dismissal by President Mahinda Rajapaksa following impeachment by Parliament, citing a Supreme Court ruling declaring the action unconstitutional. In the Central African Republic, the government signs a ceasefire agreement with rebels, ending a month of conflict and establishing a new coalition government. France commits troops to aid government forces in the current Northern Mali conflict. Sakine Cansız, one of the co-founders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, and two other Kurdish activists are shot dead in Paris. More than 100 people are killed and 270 injured in several bomb blasts in Pakistan. Recent deaths: Aaron Swartz Syrian civil war – Wikinews – More current events...
On this day...
January 15: Mattu Pongal (Tamils, 2013); Army Day in India; John Chilembwe Day in Malawi; Armed Forces Day in Nigeria 1759 – The British Museum in London, today containing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections in the world, opened to the public in Montagu House, Bloomsbury. 1910 – Construction on the Buffalo Bill Dam, then the tallest dam in the world, on the Shoshone River in the U.S. state of Wyoming was completed. 1943 – The highest-capacity office building in the world, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense known as the Pentagon (pictured), was dedicated. 1991 – Elizabeth II, as Queen of Australia, signed letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own separate Victoria Cross award in its own honours system. 1993 – Salvatore "The Beast" Riina, one of the most powerful members of the Sicilian Mafia, was arrested after three decades as a fugitive. More anniversaries: January 14 – January 15 – January 16 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now January 15, 2013 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

Davy Jones' Locker is an idiom used as a euphemism for drowning ("to be sent to Davy Jones' Locker"). This illustration from the English satirical magazine Punch shows Jones on his locker while viewing a 1789 chart of Ferrol Harbour, Spain, belonging to the HMS Howe. The ship had run aground at the mouth of the harbour on 2 November 1892, allegedly after using a poorly prepared naval chart to navigate its waters. In the accompanying caption (not included here), Jones is saying, "Aha! So long as they stick to them old charts, no fear o' my locker bein' empty!!"

Artist: John Tenniel

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