Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 July 14b

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From today's featured article

Rick Baker, the makeup artist

Squirm is a 1976 American horror film written and directed by Jeff Lieberman, starring Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R. A. Dow, Jean Sullivan, Peter MacLean, Fran Higgins and William Newman. The film takes place in the fictional town of Fly Creek, Georgia, which becomes infested with carnivorous worms due to a downed power line. Lieberman's script is based on a childhood incident in which his brother fed electricity into a patch of earth, causing earthworms to rise to the surface. Millions of worms were used over the five-week filming in Port Wentworth, Georgia; worms were brought in from Maine to augment local supplies. Makeup artist Rick Baker (pictured) provided the special effects, using prosthetic makeup. After American International Pictures picked up Squirm for distribution, it was edited to remove the more graphic scenes in a failed attempt to lower its "R" rating to "PG". The film was a commercial success, but had lukewarm reviews. It has since become a critical favorite and a cult classic. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Urine deflector at the Bank of England

... that the Bank of England has a device to prevent unwanted deposits (pictured)?
... that the Goethe-Gymnasium, founded as the first school of higher education for girls in Dortmund in 1867, is now focused on competitive sports?
... that the seagrass asterina is a sequential hermaphrodite, starting life as a female and later becoming a male?
... that Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe was the top try scorer at the 2018–19 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, the first time the feat had been achieved by someone not from Australia or New Zealand?
... that three generations of a Muslim family were killed in London, Canada, last month?
... that Annita Demetriou is the first woman and youngest person elected as Speaker of Cyprus' House of Representatives?
... that the Society of Catholic Scientists sponsors Gold Masses, following the tradition of Red Masses for lawyers, White Masses for those in healthcare, and Blue Masses for public-safety professionals?
... that B. Max Mehl, a coin dealer in Texas who made the hobby popular, advertised his "Mehl-ing list" in the 1920s?

In the news

Sher Bahadur Deuba

In South Africa, protests over the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma result in 72 deaths and 1,200 arrests.
The Supreme Court of Nepal designates Sher Bahadur Deuba (pictured) as prime minister.
The Party of Action and Solidarity wins a majority of seats in the Moldovan parliamentary election.
Anti-government protests occur in Cuba amid food shortages and a surge in COVID-19 infections.
In association football, the Copa América ends with Argentina defeating Brazil in the final.

On this day

July 14: Bastille Day in France (1789); Festino di Santa Rosalia begins in Palermo, Italy

Ruins of St Mark's Campanile after its collapse

1789 – The fortress of the Bastille in Paris was stormed by a crowd in the flashpoint of the French Revolution.
1874 – A fire destroyed 812 structures and killed 20 people in Chicago, leading to reforms in the city's fire-prevention and firefighting efforts.
1902 – St Mark's Campanile in Venice collapsed (ruins pictured), demolishing the Loggetta del Sansovino and killing only the custodian's cat.
1987 – More than 100 mm (3.9 in) of rain fell in a two-and-a-half-hour period in Montreal, causing severe flooding and more than C$220 million in damage.
2003 – In an effort to discredit U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who had written an op-ed criticizing the invasion of Iraq, his wife Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative was leaked to and published by journalist Robert Novak.

Sixto Durán Ballén (b. 1921)
Howard Webb (b. 1971)
Constance Stokes (d. 1991)

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Today's featured picture

The Turgot map of Paris is a highly accurate and detailed map of the city of Paris, France, as it existed in the 1730s. It was published in 1739 as an atlas of twenty non-overlapping sectional bird's-eye-view maps, each approximately 50 cm × 80 cm (20 in × 31 in), in isometric perspective toward the southeast, as well as one simplified overview map with a four-by-five grid showing the layout of the twenty sectional maps. It has been described as "the first all-comprising graphical inventory of the capital, down to the last orchard and tree, detailing every house and naming even the most modest cul-de-sac". The complete map is shown here in its assembled form.

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Map credit: Louis Bretez and Claude Lucas

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