Wikiwand Today

Your daily knowledge snacks, directly from Wikipedia

Latest News

Duncan Laurence

The Netherlands, represented by Duncan Laurence (pictured) with the song "Arcade", wins the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Ibiza affair, a political scandal, causes the collapse of the Austrian government and triggers a snap election.
The Liberal–National Coalition, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, wins the most seats in the Australian federal election.
Taiwan becomes the first state in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei dies at the age of 102.

Today in History

May 20: Day of Remembrance in Cambodia; National Day in Cameroon (1972); Victoria Day in Canada (2019)

1570 – The first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (world map pictured) by cartographer Abraham Ortelius, was issued.
1609 – Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's sonnets, possibly without William Shakespeare's consent.
1875 – Representatives from seventeen countries signed the Metre Convention, which set up an institute for the purpose of coordinating international metrology and for coordinating the development of the metric system.
1882 – The Triple Alliance was created between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy.
1993 – "One for the Road", the series finale of American television sitcom Cheers, was watched by 42.4 million American households on its original airing.

Thado Minsaw of Ava (b. 1531) · Hieronymus von Colloredo (d. 1812) · Šárka Kašpárková (b. 1971)

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Did You Know?

... that in 2015, Jeff's Gourmet Sausage Factory (veal bratwurst sandwich pictured) opened the first glatt kosher hot dog stand at Dodger Stadium?
... that John Rutherford Ryley was a surgeon in a lunatic asylum in 1869 and a patient in one in 1870?
... that Washington State Route 142 once included the largest prestressed concrete bridges in the state?
... that novelist Ismith Khan's relative obscurity may reflect the fact that he was not based in London, the "literary capital" of the English Caribbean?
... that when several of the small bivalve molluscs Lasaea rubra occupy the same rock crevice, they are likely to be clones?
... that Mongolian-Chinese actress Yong Mei won the Silver Bear at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival for her portrayal of a mother who lost her only son?
... that George Bernard Shaw wondered why Douglas Guthrie excluded osteopaths, herbalists, and homoeopaths from his History of Medicine?
... that on the day Bill Aylett was first elected to the Australian Senate, he knocked down a voter with his car?

Today's Featured Article

Homer Davenport (1867–1912) was a political cartoonist and writer from the United States. He is known for drawings that satirized figures of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, especially Ohio Senator Mark Hanna. Although Davenport had no formal art training, he became one of the highest paid political cartoonists in the world. He was also one of the first major American breeders of Arabian horses and one of the founders of the Arabian Horse Club of America. In 1893 he studied and drew the Arabian horses exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition. In 1904 he drew a favorable cartoon of President Theodore Roosevelt that boosted Roosevelt's election campaign. The president in turn helped Davenport in 1906 when the cartoonist required diplomatic permission to travel abroad in his quest to purchase pure desert-bred Arabian horses. The 27 horses Davenport purchased and brought to America had a lasting impact on Arabian horse breeding. (Full article...)

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Today's Featured Picture

The bee-eaters are a group of near passerine birds in the family Meropidae, containing three genera and twenty-seven species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies and usually elongated central tail feathers. All have long down-turned bills and medium to long wings, which may be pointed or round. Male and female plumages are usually similar. As their name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat flying insects, especially bees and wasps, which are caught in the air by flights from an open perch. The stinger is removed by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface. During this process, pressure is applied to the insect, thereby extracting most of the venom.

This composite, taken in 2016, shows six bee-eaters of the genus Merops found in Africa. Clockwise from top left, the species depicted are the blue-cheeked bee-eater (M. persicus chrysocercus), the cinnamon-chested bee-eater (M. oreobates), the little bee-eater (M. pusillus pusillus), the white-throated bee-eater (M. albicollis), the swallow-tailed bee-eater (M. hirundineus chrysolaimus) and the European bee-eater (M. apiaster).

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp