Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 April 29

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From today's featured article

HMS Endeavour was the Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as the collier Earl of Pembroke, and purchased by the Navy in 1768 for a scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean and to explore for the surmised Terra Australis Incognita. Her voyage took her to Tahiti for the 1769 transit of Venus, then south into the largely uncharted South Pacific. In September 1769 she reached New Zealand, the first European vessel to visit in 127 years. Seven months later Endeavour became the first ship to reach the east coast of Australia, making landfall in Botany Bay on 29 April 1770. Her return voyage marred by shipwreck and the deaths of one third of her crew, Endeavour reached the port of Dover in July 1771 after nearly three years at sea. In 1776 she returned to naval service for the American Revolutionary War but was scuttled in a blockade of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. The wreck has not been precisely located, but relics including cannons and an anchor are displayed in maritime museums worldwide. The Space Shuttle Endeavour was named in her honour in 1989. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that many mountains on Io (example pictured) have straight margins?
... that medieval historian Seta Dadoyan was awarded the David Anhaght medal for her contributions to Armenian philosophical studies?
... that one of Nader Kadhim's main motivations to write Saving Hope was to defend the hope "revived" by the Arab Spring?
... that Swedish soprano Malin Byström sang the title role in Thaïs at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in 2012?
... that in 1970 the State of Connecticut acquired 198 acres (108 ha) of Haley Farm from A. C. White for a total of $300,000 and declared it a state park?
... that Bert "Yank" Levy, who taught the British Home Guard and coauthored one of the first books on guerrilla warfare, said you could use a cheese cutter as a weapon?

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In the news

Gjorge Ivanov (pictured) is re-elected President of the Republic of Macedonia, while the ruling coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE win plurality in the Parliament.
The Catholic Church canonizes Popes John XXIII and John Paul II.
China amends its environmental protection law to help fight pollution and reverse environmental damage in the country.
Kryptodrakon is classified as the oldest pterodactyloid discovered to date.
A train derails in Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing at least 48 people.

Ongoing: Ukrainian unrest – MV Sewol

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On this day...

April 29: Shōwa Day in Japan

1587 – Anglo-Spanish War: In the Bay of Cádiz, Francis Drake led the first of several naval raids on the Spanish Armada that destroyed so many ships that Philip II of Spain had to delay his plans to invade England for over a year.
1862 – American Civil War: Union forces under David Farragut captured New Orleans, securing access into the Mississippi River.
1944 – Second World War: British agent Nancy Wake (pictured) parachuted into the Auvergne, becoming a liaison between the Special Operations Executive and the local maquis group
1997 – The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention went into effect, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons in those countries that ratified the arms control agreement.
2011 – A worldwide television audience of 300 million people watched the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.

More anniversaries: April 28 – April 29 – April 30

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It is now April 29, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

The bubble-tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) is a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae. The bubble tips are exhibited by juvenile individuals found near the surface, whereas older specimens in deeper water will often have stringy tentacles. This species is found through much of the tropical Indo-Pacific and may host a variety of clownfish.

Photograph: Nick Hobgood

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