Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 January 14

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From today's featured article

Interstate 275 (I-275) in the US state of Michigan is a western bypass around the Detroit metropolitan area, completed on January 14, 1977. The freeway is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation as part of the larger state trunkline highway system. It runs through the western suburbs near Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, terminating in an interchange with I-75 near Newport, northeast of Monroe. Early planning maps for the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s included a highway roughly parallel to the modern I-275. As plans developed through the 1960s and into the early 1970s, the freeway was to run from I-75 near Newport north to Novi and connect back to I-75 near Davisburg, but the state canceled the northern section after local opposition. Additional plans to extend the highway through Oakland County were kept on the drawing boards through the 1980s, but failed to materialize. Highway M-5, the Haggerty Connector, opened along part of the former I-275/M-275 right-of-way between 1994 and 2000. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Artist's depiction of an asteroid impact

... that over the history of Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction research, scientists have attributed the demise of the dinosaurs to their large size, small brains, or, more likely, an asteroid impact (pictured)?
... that while competing for Tanzania at the 2016 Summer Olympics, swimmer Hilal Hemed Hilal set a national record winning his 50 m freestyle heat, but did not advance?
... that in June 1940 the SS Broompark brought French scientists, heavy water, and diamonds to Britain?
... that Jose Esteves, the Filipino American mayor of Milpitas, California, is being succeeded by the city's first Vietnamese American mayor, Richard Tran?
... that the white-plumed honeyeater has become more common in urban Sydney and Newcastle?
... that Czech actress Simona Stašová was named Best Actress at the 2015 Seoul International Drama Awards?
... that the Alliance Building Society's sports club was established in 1935 with "a second-hand table tennis table and dartboard" in the basement of Princes House in Brighton?

In the news

The Danube on January 9

Passenger services are inaugurated on the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, a fast electric railway connecting the Ethiopian capital to the Red Sea.
A cold wave affecting Eastern and Central Europe (frozen Danube pictured) causes more than 60 deaths.
La La Land wins a record-breaking seven awards at the Golden Globe Awards.
An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 70 others.

On this day...

January 14: New Year (Julian calendar); Mattu Pongal (Tamils, 2017); National Forest Conservation Day in Thailand; Ratification Day in the United States (1784)

Kingston, following the 1907 earthquake

1301 – The Árpád dynasty, which had ruled Hungary since the late 9th century, ended with the death of King Andrew III.
1814 – Sweden and Denmark–Norway signed the Treaty of Kiel, whereby Frederick VI of Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in return for the Swedish holdings in Pomerania.
1907 – A 6.5 M_w earthquake struck Kingston, Jamaica (damage pictured), resulting in at least 800 deaths, which was at the time considered one of the deadliest recorded earthquakes.
1957 – Kripalu Maharaj became the fifth Jagadguru ("world teacher"), a Hindu spiritual leader.
1967 – The counterculture Human Be-In was held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, launching the Summer of Love.

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Today's featured picture

Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets is an 1872 oil painting by Édouard Manet. It depicts fellow painter Berthe Morisot dressed in black mourning dress, with a barely visible bouquet of violets. The painting is in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Painting: Édouard Manet

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