Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 June 30b

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From today's featured article

Trainor (center) performing "All About That Bass"

"All About That Bass" is the debut single of American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor (pictured), released through Epic Records on June 30, 2014. The song was included on Trainor's first extended play (EP) Title (2014) and her studio album of the same name (2015). Written by Trainor and producer Kevin Kadish, "All About That Bass" is a bubblegum pop, doo-wop and hip hop track. Trainor, who struggled with her negative body image as a teenager, was inspired to write the song to promote self-acceptance. Some music critics praised the song's production and memorable message, while others called it a novelty song and criticized the failure of its lyrics to empower all body types. The song was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. It was the best-selling song in the United States by a female artist during the 2010s, and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Illustration from the Anis Al-Hujjaj

... that a 17th-century illustrated manuscript of the Anis Al-Hujjaj shows pilgrims sailing from the Indian subcontinent to Arabia (pictured)?
... that in times of food scarcity, the collared sand anemone may consume the symbiotic zooxanthellae in its tissues?
... that Kata Wéber moved to Berlin to write the play that would become Pieces of a Woman to avoid her husband, who had encouraged her to write it after finding her personal notes?
... that William E. Woods took three same-sex couples to fill out marriage licenses in 1990, beginning a series of events that would lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States?
... that the fossil horsetail Equisetum similkamense has been found in only two places, both in British Columbia?
... that Ira F. M. Butler was Speaker of the House of Representatives in the last session of the Oregon Territorial Legislature prior to statehood?
... that in San Diego, you can get a steak dinner made by a bear?
... that judoka Loretta Doyle found out that she was pregnant during pre–Olympic selection medical checks?

In the news

Jacob Zuma

Former South African president Jacob Zuma (pictured) is sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court.
An extreme heat wave kills more than 130 people in the Pacific Northwest of North America.
In Saskatchewan, Canada, 751 unmarked graves are discovered at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School.
In the United States, a condominium tower near Miami collapses, killing at least 16 people and leaving 147 others missing.
Former president of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III dies at the age of 61.

On this day

June 30: Asteroid Day

Charles Blondin crossing Niagara Gorge

1859 – French acrobat Charles Blondin crossed Niagara Gorge (pictured), making him one of the world's most famous tightrope walkers.
1894 – London's Tower Bridge, a combined bascule and suspension bridge over the River Thames, was inaugurated.
1934 – German chancellor Adolf Hitler began a purge of the SA, the Nazi Party's paramilitary wing, and other political rivals in the Night of the Long Knives, executing at least 85 people.
2009 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Comoros, killing 152 people, with French schoolgirl Bahia Bakari the sole survivor.

Alberto Henschel (d. 1882)
Assia Djebar (b. 1936)
Allegra Versace (b. 1986)

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Today's featured picture

Strongylodon macrobotrys, the jade vine, is a species of leguminous perennial liana endemic to the Philippines. The woody stems can reach a length of up to 18 m (60 ft). A member of the family Fabaceae (the pea and bean family), the species has pendulous bunches of flowers which are followed by fleshy seed pods, and is pollinated by bats. This S. macrobotrys vine in bloom was photographed at the New York Botanical Garden.

Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

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