Wikipedia:Main Page history/2022 December 16b
From today's featured article
Tom Eastick (3 May 1900 – 16 December 1988) was a senior Australian Army artillery officer during World War II, a post-war leader of the principal ex-service organisation in South Australia, and a justice of the peace. He commanded a field artillery regiment during the First and Second Battles of El Alamein in the Western Desert campaign in North Africa in 1942, leading to his appointment as a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order and an Efficiency Decoration award. He then commanded divisional artillery during several campaigns in New Guinea and Borneo, before being appointed military governor of the Raj of Sarawak after taking the Japanese surrender at Kuching. Post-war, he was state president of the Returned Sailors', Soldiers' and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia (the Returned & Services League from 1965) for fifteen years. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George and knighted for his volunteer work on behalf of ex-servicemen. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that a football injury saved Robert Palmer (pictured) from being besieged at Kut, but he died serving with the relief expedition?
- ... that critics objected to Dangers of the Mail in the 1930s for government support of lewdness and in the 2000s for creating a hostile work environment?
- ... that Robert Home was sent by the British Army to Canada in 1864 to report on the defence of the frontier against the eventuality of an American invasion?
- ... that the bridge in the song "Leave the Door Open" almost split the band Silk Sonic apart?
- ... that Smin Awa Naing's regiment mortally wounded Crown Prince Minye Kyawswa of Ava, effectively ending Ava's most serious invasion of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom?
- ... that Billie Eilish had to take a break from writing a song alluding to her childhood trauma and sexual abuse?
- ... that the 1994 Mascara earthquake destroyed every house in the Algerian villages of Shadlia, Hacine and Sidi Ali Cherif?
- ... that the Twin Falls "saucer" was later proven to be a hoax created by four teenagers?
In the news
- At least 21 people are killed in a landslide near Batang Kali, Malaysia.
- The US National Ignition Facility (pictured) announces that it has achieved fusion ignition.
- A housing block collapses after a suspected gas explosion on the island of Jersey, killing nine people.
- Four people are charged in connection with the Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament.
On this day
December 16: Day of Reconciliation in South Africa
- 1707 – The last recorded eruption of Japan's Mount Fuji released some 800 million m3 (28 billion cu ft) of volcanic ash.
- 1893 – Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony (audio featured) premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
- 1918 – Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declared the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by Soviet Russia to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War.
- 1971 – The surrender of Pakistani forces in Dacca, East Pakistan, concluded the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War.
- 2014 – A hostage crisis in a Lindt chocolate café in Sydney, Australia, ended with police storming the building, killing the perpetrator and one of the hostages.
- Haakon IV of Norway (d. 1263)
- Maria Rundell (d. 1828)
- Carol Browner (b. 1955)
From today's featured list
Today's featured picture
The eye is a region of mostly calm weather at the center of a tropical cyclone. It is roughly circular, and is typically 30 to 65 kilometers (19 to 40 miles) in diameter. The eye is surrounded by the eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms where the most severe weather and highest winds of the storm occur. In strong tropical cyclones, the eye is characterized by light winds and clear skies, surrounded on all sides by a towering, symmetric eyewall, while in weaker storms, it is less well defined and may be covered by a central dense overcast. Weaker or disorganized storms may also feature an eyewall that does not completely encircle the eye or have an eye that features heavy rain. In all storms, however, the eye is the location of the storm's minimum barometric pressure; this can be as much as 15 percent lower than the pressure outside the storm. This photograph, taken by the German astronaut Alexander Gerst from the International Space Station in September 2018, shows the well-defined eye of Hurricane Florence in the Atlantic Ocean. Photograph credit: Alexander Gerst
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