Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 May 23

Coonskin is a 1975 American film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi (pictured in 2009), about an African American rabbit, fox, and bear who rise to the top of the organized crime racket in Harlem, encountering corrupt law enforcement, con artists, and the Mafia. The film, which combines live action and animation, stars Philip Thomas, Charles Gordone, Barry White, and Scat Man Crothers, all of whom appear in both live-action and animated sequences. Coonskin makes reference to various elements from African-American culture, ranging from African folk tales to the work of cartoonist George Herriman, and satirizes racist and other stereotypes, as well as the blaxploitation genre, Song of the South, and The Godfather. Coonskin encountered controversy before its original theatrical release when the Congress of Racial Equality criticized the content as being racist. When the film was released, it had limited distribution and initially received negative reviews. Coonskin has since been reappraised. A New York Times review said that it could be Bakshi's "masterpiece" and Bakshi considers it his best film. (Full article...)

Recently featured: Hurricane Ginger – Kenneth R. Shadrick – Thomas Ellison

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

• ... that Sanur (pictured), the fortified throne village of the Jarrar clan, withstood two sieges by Jezzar Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Acre?
• ... that after Tamil regions of Travancore merged with Tamil Nadu, the leaders of Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress joined with Congress?
• ... that during the 2013–14 Ivy League men's basketball season five of the eight teams earned postseason invitations?
• ... that the Hammersley Fork watershed was heavily logged in the early 1900s, but has been home to almost no industrial activity since?
• ... that 14-year-old Australian snowboarder Ben Tudhope was the youngest competitor at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi?
• ... that most non-Peronist political parties in Argentina have united in the political coalition Broad Front UNEN?
• ... that not only does Paratarsotomus macropalpis run at a speed equivalent to a human running at 1,300 mph (2,100 km/h), it also does so at temperatures lethal to most animals?

• The commander of the Royal Thai Army, General Prayuth Chan-ocha (pictured), announces a coup d'état following months of political crisis.
• Russia and China announce a US$400 billion agreement regarding natural gas distribution.
• More than 118 people are killed in two bombings in Jos, Nigeria.
• Credit Suisse pleads guilty to helping American citizens evade taxes and agrees to a US$2.6 billion fine.
• In a New York court, Abu Hamza is convicted of conspiracy to aid terrorist organizations.
• In basketball, the Euroleague concludes with Maccabi Tel Aviv defeating Real Madrid in the final.

Ongoing: Ukrainian unrest – Balkan flooding – Soma mine disaster

Recent deaths: Jack Brabham – Gordon Willis

May 23

• 1555 – Giovanni Pietro Carafa became Pope Paul IV and had a short, but tumultuous papacy, during which the Papal States suffered a serious military defeat.
• 1618 – In the Second Defenestration of Prague, Protestant members of the Bohemian aristocracy threw Catholic regents of Emperor Ferdinand II out the third-storey window of Prague Castle, precipitating the Thirty Years' War.
• 1844 – Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad Shírází proclaimed that he was "the Báb", after a Shi`a religious concept, marking the beginning of the Bábí movement, the forerunner of the Bahá'í Faith.
• 1934 – American criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow (pictured) were ambushed and killed by police on a desolate road near their hideout in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
• 2010 – Jamaica's military and police force began a manhunt for drug lord Christopher Coke, beginning three days of armed conflict with the Shower Posse cartel.

More anniversaries: May 22 – May 23 – May 24

{| style="margin:0 3px 3px; width:100%; text-align:left; background-color:transparent; border-collapse: collapse; "

|style="padding:0 0.9em 0 0;"| File:Puffinus tenuirostris - SE Tasmania.jpg

|style="padding:0 6px 0 0"|

The short-tailed shearwater (Puffinus tenuirostris) is a shearwater which breeds in Australia and migrates northwards during the austral winter. The chicks of this species, one of the most common seabirds in Australian waters, are commercially harvested.

Photograph: JJ Harrison