Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 December 18

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From today's featured article

Interstate 496 (I-496) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that passes through downtown Lansing in the US state of Michigan. Also a component of the State Trunkline Highway System, the loop route runs east from I-96 to the downtown area, turning south concurrently with US Highway 127. It passes a former assembly plant used by Oldsmobile and runs along or crosses parts of the Grand and Red Cedar rivers. Construction started in 1963, and the freeway opened on December 18, 1970. Segments south of downtown were built near a historically black neighborhood that dates from the early 20th century. Community leaders opted not to fight the construction of the freeway, instead seeking affordable housing and relocation assistance for displaced residents. The city named the freeway in honor of a former mayor when it opened in 1970, but the local historical society proposed that the state rename it after Ransom E. Olds, the founder of Oldsmobile and the REO Motor Car Company, after his mansion was demolished to make way for the freeway. The Michigan Legislature approved the name "Olds Freeway" two years later. (Full article...)

Part of the Interstate 96 series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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Did you know...

Tutankhamun's mask

... that Tutankhamun's mask (pictured) contains many gemstone inlays, including lapis lazuli, carnelian, quartz, obsidian, turquoise, amazonite, and faience?
... that cardiologist Walter S. Graf was a pioneer in establishing the modern system of paramedic emergency care?
... that in 2015, for the first time, a women's cycling race took place just prior to the final stage of the Vuelta a España?
... that Christopher Duggan, a British historian of Italy, once had his home raided by the Italian antiterrorism unit?
... that the major export markets for Afghan almonds are India and Pakistan, with the former preferred because of better profitability?
... that Elisa Oricchio identified that the ephrin receptor EphA7 plays a role in tumor development of follicular lymphoma?
... that the dwarf shrub Zygophyllum qatarense has adaptations to help it survive the harsh environment of the wildlife of Bahrain?
... that in 1917, future folk musician and Carnegie Institute of Technology professor emeritus Robert Schmertz was arrested while dressed in "a girl's middy blouse and a small white hat"?

In the news

Soyuz TMA-19M

Soyuz TMA-19M (spacecraft pictured) is launched to the International Space Station.
In mixed martial arts, Conor McGregor ends UFC Featherweight Champion José Aldo's ten-year winning streak at UFC 194.
At COP 21, parties to the UNFCCC adopt an agreement to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above pre-industrial levels.
Saudi Arabia holds its first municipal elections open to women, and 20 female candidates are elected.
At least 87 people are killed amidst ongoing political unrest in Burundi.
American chemical companies DuPont and Dow agree to an estimated $130 billion merger.
In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the incumbent Unity Labour Party wins a majority of seats in a general election.

Ongoing events:
- Syrian Civil War
- European migrant crisis
Recent deaths:

On this day...

December 18: Republic Day in Niger (1958); National Day in Qatar (1878)

The first performance of The Nutcracker

1867 – In Angola, New York, US, the last coach of a Lake Shore Railway train derailed, plunged 40 ft (12 m) down a gully, and caught fire, resulting in 49 deaths.
1892 – The first performance of the fairy-tale ballet The Nutcracker (pictured) was held at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
1916 – The French defeated German forces around the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in northeast France, ending the longest and one of the bloodiest battles in World War I.
1987 – Programmer Larry Wall released the first version of the programming language Perl via the comp.sources.misc newsgroup.
2005 – The most recent Chadian Civil War began when rebel groups, allegedly backed by neighbouring Sudan, launched an attack in Adré.

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From today's featured list

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt's acting career began in 1987 with uncredited roles in the films No Way Out and Less Than Zero. Pitt first gained recognition in Thelma & Louise (1991), and received his first Academy Award nomination for the role of a mental patient in 12 Monkeys (1995). To star in the apocalyptic film Fight Club (1999), he had to learn boxing, taekwondo, and grappling. He portrayed Rusty Ryan in the commercially successful heist film Ocean's Eleven (2001), and reprised the role in its sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). For his roles in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Moneyball (2011), he received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Pitt owns the production company Plan B Entertainment, which has produced films such as Troy (2004), The Departed (2006), Moneyball, and 12 Years a Slave (2013). Among these is the apocalyptic film World War Z (2013), his biggest commercial success to date. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

A banknote for one Netherlands Indies gulden. This note was issued in 1815 as part of the first Dutch government-issued paper money in the Netherlands Indies. However, in 1818 the issuing bank—De Bank Courant en Bank van Leening—was dissolved due to a lack of capital, and six months later, this first series of notes was declared worthless.

Banknote: De Bank Courant en Bank van Leening (image courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History)

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