User:Shearonink/Main page 2010 June 21

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Today's featured article
"Jack the Ripper" is the best known pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished districts in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter by someone claiming to be the murderer that was disseminated in the media. Attacks ascribed to the Ripper typically involved women prostitutes from the slums whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. Rumours that the murders were connected intensified in September and October 1888, and extremely disturbing letters from a writer or writers purporting to be the murderer were received by media outlets and Scotland Yard. Mainly because of the extraordinarily brutal character of the murders, and because of media treatment of the events, the public came increasingly to believe in a single serial killer, Jack the Ripper. Extensive newspaper coverage bestowed widespread and enduring international notoriety on the Ripper. An investigation into a series of brutal killings in Whitechapel up to 1891 was unable to connect all the killings conclusively to the murders of 1888, but the legend of Jack the Ripper solidified. As the murders were never solved, the legends surrounding them became a combination of genuine historical research, folklore, and pseudohistory. The term "ripperology" was coined to describe the study and analysis of the Ripper cases. There are over one hundred theories about the Ripper's identity, and the murders have inspired multiple works of fiction. (more...) Recently featured: Funerary art – Choral symphony – Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest articles: ... that for their peculiar shapes australites (pictured) were once thought to be glass meteorites? ... that Antoine Ephrem Cartier can trace his family history line back 400 years to Jacques Cartier, French explorer who claimed Canada for France? ... that the hamlet of Wigratzbad in Germany was home to Marian apparitions in the early 20th century, and today houses a shrine visited by approximately 500,000 pilgrims every year? ... that the Brinje Tunnel was declared to be the safest tunnel in Europe by an FIA and ADAC EuroTAP survey? ... that Richelieu Foods produces over 50 million frozen pizzas and more than 20 million crusts annually—for other companies to market under their own private labels? ... that playwright Alan Bennett's definition of a classic book is "a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have read themselves"? ... that political strategist Rod Shealy sought to increase the turnout of white voters in South Carolina by paying an unemployed black fisherman to run for Congress in 1990? ... that despite his aristocratic background, Claude Poullart des Places requested to be buried in a pauper's grave? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden and Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland Widespread flooding in southern China kills at least 132 people, leaving at least 80 missing and thousands displaced. Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden and Daniel Westling (both pictured) marry at a ceremony in Stockholm. Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese author José Saramago dies at the age of 87. In basketball, the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, winning their second consecutive championship. Heavy rainfall in the Var, France, kills at least 25 people during the region's worst floods since 1827. Soyuz TMA-19, carrying three members of the Expedition 24 crew, launches on the one-hundredth flight to the International Space Station. The Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday finds that the British Army was "unjustified" in shooting 27 civilians in 1972. Wikinews – FIFA World Cup – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
June 21: June Solstice (11:28 UTC, 2010); Midsummer festivities begin (Northern Hemisphere, 2010); Winter solstice festivals (Southern Hemisphere, 2010); World Music Day; National Aboriginal Day in Canada 1798 – Over 15,000 British soldiers launched an attack on Vinegar Hill, the largest camp and headquarters of the County Wexford United Irish rebels, marking a turning point in the Irish Rebellion. 1813 – Peninsular War: The Marquess of Wellington's combined British, Portuguese, and Spanish allied army defeated the French near Vitoria, Spain. 1826 – Greek War of Independence: A combined Egyptian and Ottoman army began their invasion of the Mani Peninsula, but they were initially held off by the Maniots at the fortifications of Vergas. 1898 – In a bloodless event during the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam from Spain. 1948 – The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (replica pictured), the world's first stored-program computer, ran its first computer program. 1973 – The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its decision in the landmark case Miller v. California, establishing the "Miller test" for determining what is obscene material. More anniversaries: June 20 – June 21 – June 22 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now June 21 2010 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

The prickles of a rose plant. Prickles, which are needle-like extensions of the cortex and epidermis, are often confused with thorns, which are modified branches or stems, and spines, which are modified leaves. All three are hard structures with sharp, pointy ends, which are generally used by plants to protect themselves from herbivores. Thorns likely first evolved as a defense mechanism in plants growing in sandy environments which provided inadequate resources for fast regeneration.

Photo: Noodle snacks

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