Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 December 21

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The Australian boobook (Ninox boobook) is an owl native to mainland Australia, southern New Guinea, the island of Timor, and the Sunda Islands. Described by John Latham in 1801, its name is derived from its two-tone boo-book call. Eight subspecies are recognised; three further subspecies were reclassified as separate species in 2019. The smallest owl on the Australian mainland, the boobook is 27 to 36 cm (10.5 to 14 in) long, with predominantly dark-brown plumage and prominent pale spots. It has grey-green or yellow-green eyes. It is generally nocturnal, though it is sometimes active at dawn and dusk, retiring to roost in secluded spots in the foliage of trees. The Australian boobook feeds on insects and small vertebrates, hunting by pouncing on them from tree perches. Breeding takes place from late winter to early summer, and tree hollows are used as nesting sites. The species has a large range and apparently stable population, and is not threatened. (Full article...)

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Modern women's parka by Victoria Kakuktinniq

... that Inuk designer Victoria Kakuktinniq incorporates design elements from the traditional amauti parka into contemporary Inuit clothing (example pictured)?
... that the Decision of 1789 was the first significant construction on the meaning of the United States Constitution in the U.S. Congress?
... that 3-hydroxyisonicotinaldehyde has the lowest molecular weight of any dye which exhibits green fluorescence?
... that I Putu Sukreta Suranta refused to pursue an academic degree, despite repeatedly being given the opportunity to do so?
... that Canon Computer Systems's NoteJet laptop came with a built-in printer?
... that Kirsten Warner, whose father was a Holocaust survivor, wrote a novel from the perspective of the child of a Holocaust survivor?
... that one journalist said that the proportions of the limbs of the statues at the Monumento a los Indios Verdes are a "sin against anatomical laws"?
... that the giant hawker, the largest living dragonfly, with a wingspan of 163 millimetres (6.4 in), has larvae that exhibit "ballistic defecation"?

In the news

Typhoon Rai

Gabriel Boric, leader of Apruebo Dignidad, is elected President of Chile.
Typhoon Rai (satellite image shown) results in at least 375 deaths in the Philippines.
A building fire in Osaka, Japan, kills 24 people.
Siaosi Sovaleni is elected as prime minister by the Legislative Assembly of Tonga.
A fuel tanker truck explodes in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, killing at least 75 people.

On this day

December 21: December solstice (15:59 UTC, 2021); Yule begins

The Rochdale Pioneers' first store

1826 – Settlers from the United States in Mexican Texas made the first attempt to secede from Mexico, establishing the short-lived Republic of Fredonia.
1844 – The Rochdale Pioneers opened their store (pictured) in Rochdale, England, forming the basis for the modern co-operative movement.
1923 – Nepal and the United Kingdom signed the first treaty that defined the international status of Nepal as an independent and a sovereign nation.
1965 – The United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which 88 member states have since signed.
1988 – The world's largest aircraft, the Antonov An-225 Mriya, made its first flight.

Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany (d. 1001)
William H. Osborn (b. 1820)
Adele Goldstine (b. 1920)

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Today's featured picture

"The Raven" is a narrative poem by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. This illustration by Édouard Manet was drawn for a French publication, and depicts the narrator half asleep, poring over ancient books at midnight on a drear winter night. He hears a tapping sound, and on investigation finds a raven at the window, which flies into his room and perches on a bust of Pallas Athena. The narrator asks the bird a series of questions, to which the bird replies only "Nevermore". Eventually, the narrator falls into despair and ends with his final admission that his soul is trapped beneath the raven's shadow and shall be lifted "nevermore". Originally published in 1845, the poem was widely popular and made Poe famous, though it did not bring him much financial success. "The Raven" has influenced many modern works and is referenced throughout popular culture in films, television and music.

Illustration credit: Édouard Manet; restored by Lise Broer

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