Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 2004
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March 1
Propaganda is information, true or false, disseminated to serve an agenda. Even if true, it may be partisan and fail to paint a complete picture. Propaganda shares many techniques with advertising. However, propaganda usually has political or nationalist themes. Many of the techniques used in propaganda are logical fallacies, since propagandist views are arguments which, although sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid. (more...)
Recently featured: LSD - Periodic table - Psychosis
March 2
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The Hubble Space Telescope is a telescope located at the outer edges of Earth's atmosphere. The telescope was launched by Space Shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. This had been postponed from a 1986 launch date by the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. It was later discovered that the main mirror had a defect, which was repaired in December 1993. Hubble's replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope is not scheduled for launch until 2021, many years after the Hubble Space Telescope was expected to cease functions. (more...)
Recently featured: Propaganda - LSD - Periodic table
March 3
Poker is the most popular of a class of games called vying games. In order to play, one must learn the basic rules and procedures of the game (see Poker game play), the values of the various combinations of cards (see Poker hand), and the rules about betting limits (see Poker betting structure). (more...)
Recently featured: Hubble Space Telescope - Propaganda - LSD
March 4
"All your base are belong to us" is a stock phrase arising from an erroneous translation used in the Sega Genesis version of the Japanese video game Zero Wing. In 2001, the phrase swept over the Internet – fueled in part by the use of the phrase in an online music video by the gabber group The Laziest Men on Mars. It is one of the most commonly quoted examples of Engrish, which is the use of English poorly translated from another language. (more...)
Recently featured: Poker - Hubble Space Telescope - Propaganda
March 5
The London congestion charge is a fee that is levied on motorists entering the central London area. The fee was introduced on February 17, 2003. The daily fee of £5 (approximately €7.50 or US $9) must be paid by the registered owner of a vehicle which enters, leaves or moves in the congestion charge zone. The fee is enforced by 230 CCTV-style cameras installed around the edge of the zone. (more...)
Recently featured: All your base are belong to us - Poker - Hubble Space Telescope
March 6
In mathematics, trigonometric functions are functions of an angle important when studying triangles and modeling periodic phenomena. They may be defined as ratios of two sides of a right triangle containing the angle, or, more generally, as ratios of coordinates of points on the unit circle, or, more generally still, as infinite series. (more...)
Recently featured: London congestion charge - All your base are belong to us - Poker
March 7
Since its founding in 1949, the People's Republic of China has been led by the Communist Party of China. With over 1.2 billion people, it is the most populous country in the world. It is also the fourth-largest in size and has the second-highest gross domestic product (after the U.S.). The official language is Mandarin Chinese, making it the native language of more people than any other language on Earth. (more...)
Recently featured: Trigonometric functions - London congestion charge - All your base are belong to us
March 8
The Sperm Whale is the largest of the toothed whales and is the largest toothed animal in the world. The whale was named after the milky-white substance spermaceti found in its head and originally mistaken for sperm. The Sperm Whale's enormous head and distinctive shape, as well as its central role in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, have led many to describe it as the archetypal whale. (more...)
Recently featured: People's Republic of China - Trigonometric functions - London congestion charge
March 9
The bathing machine was a device which flourished in the 19th century to allow people to wade in the ocean at beaches without violating Victorian notions of modesty. Bathing machines were in the form of roofed and walled wooden carts which would be rolled into the sea. Some had solid wooden walls; others had canvas walls over a wooden frame. The bathing machine was part of sea-bathing etiquette which was more rigorously enforced upon women than men, but was expected to be observed by people of both genders among those who wished to be considered "proper". (more...)
Recently featured: Sperm Whale - People's Republic of China - Trigonometric functions
March 10
Leonardo da Vinci was a celebrated Italian Renaissance architect, inventor, engineer, sculptor and painter. He can be seen as the archetype of the Renaissance man and has been described as a genius. Leonardo is well known for his masterful paintings, such as The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. Only 17 of his paintings, and none of his statues, survive. (more...)
Recently featured: bathing machine - Sperm Whale - People's Republic of China
March 11
LEGO is a Danish toy company best known for its line of interconnecting plastic bricks. The company's name was coined by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934, from the Danish phrase "leg godt", meaning "play well." The word "LEGO" also means "I put together" or "I assemble" in Latin. Lego bricks are designed to be so straightforward that even children require little or no instruction in how to use them. On June 7, 1968, the LEGOLAND Park in Billund was opened. This theme park featured elaborate models of miniature towns, built entirely from LEGO bricks. A location in the USA has since opened. (more...)
Recently featured: Leonardo da Vinci - bathing machine - Sperm Whale
March 12
The Parthenon, the most famous surviving building of Ancient Greece and one of the most famous buildings in the world, has stood atop the Acropolis of Athens for nearly 2,500 years. It was built to give thanks to Athena, the city's protecting goddess, for the salvation of Athens and Greece in the Persian Wars. It replaced an older temple which had been destroyed by the Persians. As well as being a temple, the Parthenon was used as a treasury, and was the location of the treasury of the Delian League, which later became the Athenian Empire. (more...)
Recently featured: LEGO - Leonardo da Vinci - bathing machine
March 13
A nuclear weapon is a weapon that derives its energy from nuclear reactions and has enormous destructive power. Countries declared nuclear powers are the United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, and the People's Republic of China. India and Pakistan have also publicly tested nuclear weapons. Israel is also widely believed to possess nuclear weapons. Such weapons have been used only twice in combat, by the United States against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the conclusion of World War II. (more...)
Recently featured: Parthenon - LEGO - Leonardo da Vinci
March 14
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an American author of fantasy and horror fiction, noted for giving horror stories a science fiction framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and influential among writers and fans of horror fiction. His early fantasies were greatly influenced by the stories of Lord Dunsany, but later took on a darker tone with the creation of what is today often called the Cthulhu Mythos. Much of Lovecraft's work was directly inspired by his nightmares, and it is perhaps this direct insight into subconscious fears that helps to account for their continuing popularity. (more...)
Recently featured: Nuclear Weapon - Parthenon - LEGO
March 15
A villain is a bad person, especially in fiction. Villains are the fictional characters, or perhaps fictionalized characters, in drama and melodrama who work to thwart the plans of the hero. As such, villains are an almost inevitable plot device, and more than the heroes, the villains are the crucial elements upon which plots turn. In the era before sound in motion pictures villains had to appear very "visually" sinister, and thus many villain stereotypes were born. (more...)
Recently featured: Howard Phillips Lovecraft - Nuclear Weapon - Parthenon
March 16
The Prisoner's dilemma is a classic example of a non-zero-sum game that demonstrates a conflict between rational individual behavior and the benefits of cooperation in certain situations. In political science, the Prisoner's Dilemma is often used to illustrate the problem of two states engaged in an arms race. It is fundamental to certain theories of human cooperation and trust. On the assumption that transactions between two people requiring trust can be modelled by the Prisoner's Dilemma, cooperative behavior in populations may be modelled by a multi-player, iterated, version of the game. It has, consequently, fascinated many scholars over the years. (more...)
Recently featured: Villain - Howard Phillips Lovecraft - Nuclear Weapon
March 17
The end times are, in one version of Christian eschatology, a time of tribulation that will precede the Second Coming of Jesus, as is related in Bible prophecy such as the Book of Daniel, Book of Ezekiel, and Book of Revelation. Specifically, what is usually referred to as the 'end times' revolves around a cluster of beliefs in Christian millennialism. These beliefs typically include the ideas that the Biblical apocalypse is imminent and that various signs in current events are omens of Armageddon. (more...)
Recently featured: Prisoner's dilemma - Villain - Howard Phillips Lovecraft
March 18
A geyser is a special type of hot spring that erupts periodically, ejecting a column of hot water and steam into the air. The name geyser comes from Geysir, the name of the best-known geyser in Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the word gjósa, "to gush." Geysers are quite rare, requiring a combination of geology and climate that exists in only a few places on Earth. There are only six geyser fields of any size in the world: two in the United States, and one each in Russia, Chile, New Zealand and Iceland. (more...)
Recently featured: End times - Prisoner's dilemma - Villain
March 19
The Hutton Inquiry was a British judicial inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton, appointed by the British government to investigate the death of a government weapons expert, Dr. David Kelly. The inquiry opened in August 2003 and reported on January 28, 2004. (more...)
Recently featured: Geyser - End times - Prisoner's dilemma
March 20
A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a (nearly) continuous spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the sun shines onto falling rain. It is a colored arc with red on the outside and violet on the inside: see color for the full sequence. (more...)
Recently featured: Hutton Inquiry - Geyser - End times
March 21
Punk rock is the anti-establishment music movement of the period 1976–1980, exemplified by the Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash and The Ramones, and to subsequent music scenes that share key characteristics with these first-generation "punks." The term is sometimes also applied to the fashions or the irreverent "do-it-yourself" attitude associated with this musical movement. The term "Punk rock" was originally used to describe the primitive guitar-based rock and roll of untutored U.S. bands of the mid-1960s. (more...)
Recently featured: Rainbow - Hutton Inquiry - Geyser
March 22
An electronic amplifier is a device for increasing the power of a signal. It does this by taking power from a power supply and shaping the output to match the input signal. This process invariably introduces some noise and distortion into the signal, and the process cannot be 100% efficient - amplifiers will always produce some waste heat. (more...)
Recently featured: Punk rock - Rainbow - Hutton Inquiry
March 23
On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched the Attack on Pearl Harbor. It was a surprise assault on the United States Navy base and Army air fields at Oahu, Hawaii Territory. The Japanese planes bombed all the U.S. military air bases on the island and the ships anchored at Pearl, including "Battleship Row". The next day, the U.S. Congress declared war on Japan with only Jeannette Rankin dissenting. (more...)
Recently featured: electronic amplifier - punk rock - rainbow
March 24
The Summer Olympic Games are an international multi-sport event held every four years, organised by the International Olympic Committee. The Olympics are the most prestigious of such events in the world, featuring a larger range of sports than others. Olympic victory is generally considered to be the most prestigious achievement in any field of sport. The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 by Pierre Fredi, Baron de Coubertin, who sought to promote international understanding through the sporting competition. The first games were held in Athens in 1896. (more...)
Recently featured: Attack on Pearl Harbor - Electronic amplifier - punk rock
March 25
Edward Gough Whitlam was an Australian politician and the 21st Prime Minister of Australia from 1972 to 1975. When elected, he was Australia's first Labor Prime Minister for 23 years. He is the only Australian Prime Minister to be dismissed by the Governor-General. He has been deified by his admirers and demonized by his opponents, and is one of the most controversial figures in Australian political history. (more...)
Recently featured: Summer Olympic Games - Attack on Pearl Harbor - Electronic amplifier
March 26
Medieval literature encompasses essentially all written works available in Europe during the Middle Ages (roughly from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. 500 AD to the beginning of the Florentine Renaissance in the late 15th century). The literature of this time period varies wildly, from the utterly sacred to the exuberantly profane (touching all points in-between), which is only fitting for a millennium in which European life circled around the muck and mire of the fields, the gore of the battlefield, and the quiet removal of monasteries and cathedrals. (more...)
Recently featured: Gough Whitlam - Summer Olympic Games - Attack on Pearl Harbor
March 27
Mandarin is the official Chinese spoken language used in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). It is also one of four official languages in Singapore. The efforts of both the PRC and ROC to promote Mandarin as the standard tongue have made it the most spoken language in the world. (more...)
Recently featured: Medieval literature – Gough Whitlam – Summer Olympic Games
March 28
Bioinformatics is the use of mathematical and informational techniques to solve biological problems, usually by creating or using computer programs, mathematical models or both. One of the main areas of bioinformatics is the data mining and analysis of the data gathered by the various genome projects. Other areas are sequence alignment, protein structure prediction, systems biology, and virtual evolution. (more...)
Recently featured: Mandarin – Medieval literature – Gough Whitlam
March 29
Yellowstone National Park is a United States National Park that is located in the U.S. states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Yellowstone is the first and oldest national park in the world. The park is famous for its various geysers, hot springs, and other geothermal features and is home to grizzly bears and wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk. The park was named for the yellow rocks seen in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. (more...)
Recently featured: Bioinformatics – Mandarin – Medieval literature
March 30
A jet engine is a type of air-breathing turbine engine, often used on aircraft. The engine draws air in at the front and compresses it. The air then combines with fuel and the engine burns the resulting mixture. The combustion greatly increases the volume of the gases which are then exhausted out of the rear of the engine. The process is similar to a four-stroke cycle, but with the processes - induction, compression, ignition and exhaust - taking place continuously. (more...)
Recently featured: Yellowstone National Park – Bioinformatics – Mandarin
March 31
Superman, also called The Man of Steel, is a fictional character, a superhero, starring in comic books bearing his name from DC Comics. The character has also been in various television series and movies. Superman was born as Kal-el on the planet Krypton. While still a baby he was put into a spaceship alone by his father. The ship launched moments before his home-planet exploded. His spaceship landed on Earth. (more...)
Recently featured: Jet engine – Yellowstone National Park – Bioinformatics