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The Wikipedia article of the day for February 25, 2018 is USS West Bridge (ID-2888) . USS West Bridge (ID-2888) was a cargo ship during World War I, one of the steel-hulled West ships built for the U.S. Shipping Board on the West Coast. Launched in April 1918, the ship joined a convoy of cargo ships headed to France in August. After the convoy was attacked by two German submarines and West Bridge was torpedoed, a salvage crew from the American destroyer Smith and four tugs dispatched from France successfully brought the ship into port. After seven months of repair, West Bridge resumed Navy service until December 1919. The ship was laid up for nearly seven years from 1922 to 1929, when she was sold to an intercoastal cargo service under the name SS Barbara Cates. By 1938, the ship had been renamed Pan Gulf for service with a subsidiary of the Waterman Steamship Company. During World War II, Pan Gulf made nine round trips across the North Atlantic without incident in convoys. In May 194

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 24, 2018 is Pyxis . Pyxis is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. The name comes from Pyxis Nautica, Latin for a mariner's compass (as opposed to a draftsman's compass, represented by the constellation Circinus). Introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century, Pyxis is counted among the 88 modern constellations. In the 19th century, astronomer John Herschel suggested renaming Pyxis to Malus, the mast, since it appears near the old constellation of the ship Argo Navis, but the suggestion was not followed. Pyxis is completely visible from latitudes south of 53 degrees north, with its best evening-sky visibility in February and March. The plane of the Milky Way passes through it. Its three brightest stars—Alpha, Beta and Gamma Pyxidis—are in a rough line; the brightest of these is Alpha (magnitude 3.68), a blue-white star around 22,000 times as luminous as the Sun. Near Alpha is T Pyxidis, a recurrent nova

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 23, 2018 is A Cure for Pokeritis . A Cure for Pokeritis is an American short silent film starring John Bunny and Flora Finch (pictured), released on February 23, 1912. A domestic comedy, it depicts a woman who stops her husband's gambling habit by having her cousin stage a fake police raid on his weekly poker game. It was one of many shorts produced by Vitagraph Studios, whose popularity made Bunny and Finch early film stars. Although its style of humor is dated, it is a historically important representative of its period and genre. The film was an early example of efforts to move beyond the conventions of stage plays: during the police raid, action took place in both the foreground and the background, with the actors moving between them. This cinematography technique improved the realism and pacing of the scene. A Cure for Pokeritis may be the first depiction of poker in film. Like Cassius Marcellus Coolidge's Dogs Playing Poker p

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 22, 2018 is Æthelflæd . Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians (c. 870 – 918), ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. The oldest daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex, she married Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, who ruled western Mercia when the eastern part was occupied by the Vikings. After her husband's death, she ruled Mercia and played a leading role in recovering southern England from the Vikings in cooperation with her brother, King Edward the Elder. She fortified many towns, sent an army to capture Derby, and secured the surrender of Leicester without a fight. The Viking leaders of York offered her their loyalty, but she died before she could take up the offer. Her daughter Ælfwynn briefly ruled Mercia, but was seized by Edward, who took her into Wessex and brought Mercia under his direct rule. Historians disagree whether Mercia was an independent kingdom under Æthelred and Æthelflæd, but they agree that

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 21, 2018 is North Ronaldsay sheep . The North Ronaldsay is a breed of domestic sheep from the northernmost island of Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland. It belongs to the Northern European short-tailed sheep group of breeds, and has evolved without much cross-breeding with modern breeds. It is a smaller sheep than most, with the rams (males) horned and ewes (females) mostly hornless. It was formerly kept primarily for wool, but now the two largest flocks are feral, one on North Ronaldsay and another on the Orkney island of Linga Holm. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust lists the breed as "vulnerable", with fewer than 600 registered breeding females in the United Kingdom. The sheep on North Ronaldsay are confined to the shoreline by a 1.8 m tall (6 ft) dry-stone wall, which completely encircles the island. The wall was built originally to protect the shoreline and keep the sheep inside it, but when seaweed farming on the shore be

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 20, 2018 is Maxinquaye . Maxinquaye is the debut album by English rapper and producer Tricky (pictured), released on 20 February 1995. By the time he recorded the album, Tricky had grown frustrated with his limited role in the group Massive Attack and had discovered vocalist Martina Topley-Bird, who he felt would offer another dimension to his lyrics. He signed a solo contract with 4th & B'way Records in 1993 and recorded Maxinquaye the following year primarily at his home studio in London with Topley-Bird as the predominant vocalist. The record's groove-oriented and low-tempo sound incorporates elements from hip hop, soul, rock, ambient techno, reggae, and experimental music. The songs explore themes of cultural decline, dysfunctional sexual relationships, fear of intimacy, and recreational drug use. In writing them, Tricky drew on his experiences in the British drug culture and the influence of his late mother Maxine Quaye, a

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 19, 2018 is Dungeon Siege . Dungeon Siege is an action role-playing game developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft for Windows (2002) and by Destineer for MacOS (2003). Set in the pseudo-medieval kingdom of Ehb, the high fantasy game follows a young farmer and his companions as they journey to defeat an invading force. Instead of manually controlling characters, the player sets their overall tactics, weapons and magic usage. Chris Taylor and Jacob McMahon aimed for a role-playing game stripped of the typical genre elements they found slow or frustrating, including all loading screens, to keep the player focused on the action. Development took over four years, often with 12- to 14-hour workdays. The game is listed by review aggregator Metacritic as the third-highest rated computer role-playing game of 2002. Critics praised the graphics and seamless world, as well as the fun and accessible gameplay, but were dismissive of the

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 18, 2018 is Lazarus Aaronson . Lazarus Aaronson (18 February 1895 – 9 December 1966) was a British poet and a lecturer in economics. As a young man, he belonged to a group of Jewish friends who are today known as the Whitechapel Boys, many of whom later achieved fame as writers and artists. His diction and verbal energy have been compared to those of his more renowned and innovative Whitechapel friend, Isaac Rosenberg. Reviewers have traced influences in Aaronson's poetry from the English poet John Keats and from Hebrew poets such as Shaul Tchernichovsky and Zalman Shneur. Aaronson lived most of his life in London and spent much of his working life as a lecturer in economics at the City of London College. In his twenties, he converted to Christianity; a large part of his poetry focused on his conversion and spiritual identity as a Jew and an Englishman. He published three collections of poetry: Christ in the Synagogue (1930), Poems (19

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 17, 2018 is Isabelle Eberhardt . Isabelle Eberhardt (17 February 1877 – 21 October 1904) was a Swiss explorer and writer. As a teenager, she published short stories under a male pseudonym. She became interested in North Africa, and was considered a proficient writer on the region despite learning about it only through correspondence. Eberhardt moved to Algeria in 1897, where she converted to Islam, dressed as an Arabic man and adopted a male name. Her unorthodox behaviour made her an outcast to European settlers and the French administration. Her acceptance by the Qadiriyya, an Islamic order, convinced the French that she was a spy or an agitator. In 1901 she survived an assassination attempt and was ordered to leave Algeria, but was allowed to return the following year after marrying her long-time partner, an Algerian soldier. In 1904, aged 27, she was killed by a flash flood in Aïn Sefra. Her manuscripts were collected and published post

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 16, 2018 is Space Seed . "Space Seed" is an episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. First broadcast by NBC on February 16, 1967, it was written by Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilber and directed by Marc Daniels. Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew aboard the starship USS Enterprise. In the episode, they encounter a sleeper ship holding selectively bred superhumans from Earth's past. Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán) attempts to take control of Enterprise with the help of Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue). Montalbán, the casting director's first choice, described the role as "wonderful". The script changed many times during preproduction, in part to reduce costs, but the special sets and shots using starship miniatures took the show over budget. Although the episode did not win its time slot on its first run, it

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 15, 2018 is Fantastic (magazine) . Fantastic (1952–1980) was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, founded by Ziff Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Within a few years sales fell, and Howard Browne, the first editor, was forced to switch the focus to science fiction rather than fantasy. At the end of the 1950s Cele Goldsmith took over from Paul W. Fairman as editor of both Fantastic and Amazing, bringing in many new writers and making the magazines, in the words of one science fiction historian, the "best-looking and brightest" in the field. She helped to nurture the early careers of writers such as Roger Zelazny and Ursula K. Le Guin, but was unable to increase circulation. In 1965 the magazines were sold to Sol Cohen, who hired Joseph Wrzos as editor and switched to a reprint-only policy. This was financially successful, but brought Cohen into conflict with the newly formed Science Fiction

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 14, 2018 is Paxillus involutus . Paxillus involutus, the common roll-rim, is a fungus widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere; it has also been unintentionally introduced to Australia, New Zealand, and South America. The brownish fruit body grows up to 6 cm (2.4 in) high. It has a funnel-shaped cap up to 12 cm (5 in) wide with a distinctive in-rolled rim and decurrent gills close to the stalk. Genetic testing suggests that the fungus may be a species complex rather than a single species. A common mushroom of deciduous and coniferous woods and grassy areas in late summer and autumn, P. involutus is symbiotic with the roots of many tree species, reducing the trees' intake of heavy metals and increasing their resistance to pathogens. Previously considered edible and eaten widely in Eastern and Central Europe, the mushroom has been found to be dangerously poisonous; in 1944, it killed the German mycologist Julius Schäffer. It can

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 13, 2018 is Stretford . Stretford (pop. 46,910) is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. Lying on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, it is 3.8 miles (6.1 km) to the southwest of Manchester city centre. Historically in Lancashire, Stretford was an agricultural village during much of the 19th century known locally as Porkhampton, in reference to the large number of pigs produced for the nearby Manchester market. The arrival of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894, and the subsequent development of the Trafford Park industrial estate in the north of the town, accelerated the industrialisation that had begun in the late 19th century; by 2001 less than one per cent of Stretford's population was employed in agriculture. Stretford has been the home of Manchester United Football Club since 1910, and of Lancashire County Cricket Club since 1864. Residents have included the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst,

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 12, 2018 is Indian Head gold pieces . The Indian Head gold pieces were two coin series struck by the United States Mint: a two-and-a-half dollar piece, or quarter eagle (1908–1915, 1925–1929), and a five-dollar coin, or half eagle (1908–1916, 1929). The only US coins with recessed (engraved) designs ever to enter circulation, they were the last of a long series of coins in those denominations. President Theodore Roosevelt vigorously advocated new coin designs, and had the Mint engage his friend, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to design coins that could be changed without congressional authorization. The sculptor completed an eagle ($10 piece) and double eagle before his death in 1907. Roosevelt convinced Mint Director Frank Leach to reproduce the eagle's design on both of the smaller coins, but recessed below the background. The job fell to Boston sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt, and after some difficulty, the Mint was able to strike th

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 11, 2018 is Van Diemen's Land v Port Phillip, 1851 . A cricket match on 11 and 12 February 1851, played by teams from Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and Port Phillip District (now Victoria), was the first between two Australian colonies, recognised in later years as the initial first-class cricket match in Australia. It took place at the Launceston Racecourse (pictured in 2009). The match was one of the celebratory events marking the separation of the Port Phillip District from New South Wales in 1851 as the colony of Victoria. The team representing Port Phillip was drawn from the Melbourne Cricket Club; the Van Diemen's Land team consisted of players from Launceston and Hobart. The visiting Port Phillip team was expected to have an advantage but had difficulties with the batting conditions and the opposition's unusually slow bowling. Batting first, Port Phillip scored 82; Van Diemen's Land replied with 104, assisted

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 10, 2018 is Tropical Depression Ten (2005) . Tropical Depression Ten was a precursor of Hurricane Katrina during the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed on August 13 from a tropical wave off the west coast of Africa, but the depression faced strong wind shear and remained weak. By August 14, it no longer met the criteria for a tropical cyclone, and the National Hurricane Center issued their final advisory on it. Moving westward, the storm produced occasional bursts of atmospheric convection. By August 18, only a remnant mid-level circulation persisted. This merged with a second tropical wave on August 23 to form Tropical Depression Twelve, which grew into Katrina, the third most intense tropical cyclone ever to make landfall in the United States. Katrina was the costliest US disaster until Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and one of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes, causing severe destruction along the Gulf Coast from centr

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 9, 2018 is Cragside . Cragside is a Victorian country house near Rothbury in Northumberland, England. It was the home of William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, founder of the Armstrong Whitworth armaments firm and inventor of the hydraulic crane and the Armstrong gun. Cragside was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power. The entire estate, designed by Richard Norman Shaw, was technologically advanced, with a hydraulic lift, a hydroelectric rotisserie, and early versions of a dishwasher and dumb waiter. Armstrong was raised to the peerage in 1887, taking the title Baron Armstrong of Cragside. He was the first engineer ever to join the House of Lords. He filled Cragside with a significant art collection, and it became an integral part of his commercial operations, entertaining guests including the Shah of Persia and the King of Siam. Following Armstrong's death in 1900, his heirs struggled to maintain the house

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 8, 2018 is U.S. Route 50 in Nevada . In Nevada, U.S. Route 50 runs from the resort communities of Lake Tahoe eastward to the Utah border near Great Basin National Park. Route 50 is a transcontinental highway that stretches from West Sacramento, California, to Ocean City, Maryland, on the east coast. The Nevada portion crosses several large desert valleys separated by alpine forestland, across the Basin and Range province of the Great Basin. It passes through the state capital in Carson City as well as Fort Churchill State Historic Park, ghost towns and petroglyph sites. The route was constructed along a historic corridor, first used for the Pony Express and Central Overland Route and later for most of State Route 2 (before the U.S. Highway System) and the Lincoln Highway. U.S. Route 50 in Nevada was named "The Loneliest Road in America" by Life magazine in 1986; they were referring to large desolate areas with few or no signs of

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 7, 2018 is Guadalcanal Campaign . In the Guadalcanal Campaign of the Second World War, the Allies reversed the gains of Imperial Japan in the southwest Pacific. U.S. forces had inflicted heavy losses on the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, but Japan had remained on the offensive, pushing into the Solomon Islands from Rabaul and threatening supply lines to Australia and New Zealand. In August 1942, U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal in the southern Solomon Islands. The Japanese had occupied the islands since May, and were building an airfield (later named Henderson Field). The Allies overwhelmed the surprised Japanese defenders and captured the airfield. The Japanese attempted to retake it but were defeated in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November. They abandoned their campaign in December, and evacuated their remaining forces on 7 February 1943. The Allied victories on Guadalcanal, and in New Guinea,

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 6, 2018 is Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia . Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (1882–1960) was the youngest child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and younger sister of Emperor Nicholas II. Her father died when she was 12, and her brother Nicholas became emperor. At 19 she married Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg; their marriage was unconsummated and was annulled by the Emperor in October 1916. The following month Olga married cavalry officer Nikolai Kulikovsky, with whom she had fallen in love several years before. During the First World War, the Grand Duchess served as an army nurse at the front and was awarded a medal for personal gallantry. At the downfall of the Romanovs in the Russian Revolution of 1917, she fled to the Crimea with her husband and children, where they lived under the threat of assassination. After her brother and his family were shot by revolutionaries, she and her family escaped to Denmark i