Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 July 30

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From today's featured article

The octopus is a soft-bodied, eight-armed mollusc of the order Octopoda, with around 300 known species. Along with squids, cuttlefish and nautiloids, they are classed as cephalopods. The mouth with its hard beak is at the base of the arms, which trail behind the animal as it swims. A siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates. They inhabit all parts of the ocean, from the intertidal zone and coral reefs to the abyssal depths. They can escape from predators by hiding in a cloud of ink, camouflaging themselves, or contorting their bodies to squeeze through narrow gaps. They are all venomous, but only the blue-ringed octopus is known to be deadly to humans. Octopus is sold as food around the world, especially in the Mediterranean and along the coasts of Asia. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

The balloon in Parliament Square

... that the Donald Trump baby balloon (pictured) was flown over London's Parliament Square and Edinburgh's the Meadows?
... that since Brett Cantor's fatal stab wounds 25 years ago today were similar to those of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, O. J. Simpson's defense team was allowed to review the police case file?
... that Gevninge, a Danish village dating to the Viking Age or earlier, may have been the port for the seat of the Scylding kings?
... that Kateryna Kasper appeared at the Los Angeles Opera as Belinda in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, staged by Barrie Kosky, and in Frankfurt as Antonida in Glinka's Iwan Sussanin, staged by Harry Kupfer?
... that Sigmund Freud regularly played the popular Austrian tarot card game, Königrufen?
... that William Chong Wong, the son of Chinese immigrant parents, twice served as Minister of Finance in Honduras?
... that Dafydd Gibbon is particularly concerned with endangered languages and has received awards from the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Poland?
... that the peanut worm Nephasoma minutum has been referred to as a "taxonomic wastebasket"?

In the news

Imran Khan

In cycling, Geraint Thomas wins the Tour de France.
Following allegations of sexual misconduct, American Archbishop Theodore McCarrick becomes the first cleric to resign from the College of Cardinals since 1927.
Imran Khan's (pictured) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf wins a plurality in the Pakistani general election that was marred by violence.
In the Syrian Civil War, more than 300 people are killed in a series of attacks in and around As-Suwayda, Syria, while an army offensive captures southern opposition-held regions.
Scientists announce the discovery of a 20-kilometre-wide (12 mi) sub-surface lake of water on Mars.

On this day

July 30

Brother Jonathan

1656 – Led by King Charles X Gustav, the armies of Sweden and Brandenburg defeated the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth near Warsaw.
1865 – Off the coast of Crescent City, California, U.S., the steamship Brother Jonathan (pictured) struck an uncharted rock and sank, killing 225 people; its cargo of a large number of gold coins was not retrieved until 1996.
1930 – Uruguay defeated Argentina at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo to win the first Football World Cup.
1981 – Amid widespread economic crisis and food shortages in Poland, up to 50,000 people, mostly women and children, took part in the largest of the hunger demonstrations in Łódź.
2014 – At least 151 people were killed when heavy rains triggered a landslide in Pune district, Maharashtra, India.

Emily Brontë (b. 1818) · Harold Davidson (d. 1937) · Katherine Reutter (b. 1988)

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From today's featured list

Alastair Cook

England Test cricket records date back to the first Test match, between England and Australia in March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. England will play their 1,000th Test match starting on Wednesday, the most by any Test playing team. As of July 2018^[update], England is the third most successful team in Test cricket with an overall winning percentage of 35.73, behind Australia at 47.16 and South Africa at 37.70. Opening batsman and former captain Alastair Cook (pictured) holds several England Test cricket records. He has scored over 10,000 Test runs, the only England player to do so. Captaining his side from 2010 until he stood down in 2016, Cook holds the record for the most matches played as English skipper with 59, the Test record for the most consecutive matches played with 154 and the record for the most matches played for England with 156. Fast bowler James Anderson is the most prolific wicket-taker for England having taken a total of 540 wickets throughout his 138 match career. England claims two age records, James Southerton as the oldest player to make his Test debut at 49 and Wilfred Rhodes aged 52 as the oldest cricketer to ever play in a Test match. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Battle of Vercellae in 101 BC was the Roman victory of Gaius Marius over the invading Celto-Germanic Cimbri tribe near the settlement of Vercellae in Cisalpine Gaul. Having invaded northern Italy, the Cimbri repeatedly defeated the 20,000 men strong army of Quintus Lutatius Catulus; however, after Marius arrived with 32,000 soldiers to reinforce Catulus, the Romans won a total victory. The Cimbri were virtually wiped out: the Romans claimed to have killed 65,000–160,000 and captured 60,000, including large numbers of women and children.

This painting, completed by the Italian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo between 1725 and 1729, was one of a series of works depicting Roman battles and triumphs.

Painting: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

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