Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 November 9

SMS Emden was the second and final member of the Dresden class of light cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy. Named for the town of Emden, she was completed in July 1909 at the Imperial Dockyard in Danzig, and spent most of her career with the German East Asia Squadron, based in Tsingtao, China. At the outbreak of World War I, Emden captured a Russian steamer and converted her into the commerce raider Cormoran. In October 1914, Emden launched a surprise attack on Penang, sinking the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet. Emden '​s commander, Karl von Müller, then took her to raid the Cocos Islands, where he landed a contingent of sailors to destroy British facilities. On 9 November 1914, Emden was attacked by the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, a more powerful ship, and seriously damaged. Müller ran his ship aground to prevent her from sinking. Out of a crew of 376, 133 were killed in the battle. Most of the survivors were taken prisoner, though the landing party commandeered an old schooner and eventually returned to Germany. Emden '​s wreck was quickly destroyed by wave action, but was not broken up for scrap until the 1950s. (Full article...)

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From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

• ... that the eyes of the sand diver (pictured) have an iridescent surface layer?
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• ... that Welcome to the Jungle contains a cover of a Banks song not officially sanctioned by her?
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• ... that although the ranges of the Mexican spiny pocket mouse and the painted spiny pocket mouse overlap, the latter tends to be found in moister, lower habitats?
• ... that model and former wife of Yannick Noah Heather Stewart-Whyte appeared on back-to-back September Vogue Paris covers?
• ... that Basement Jaxx feature a twerking robot in their "Never Say Never" music video?

• In the United States midterm elections, the Republican Party wins control of the Senate and increases its majority in the House of Representatives.
• In horse racing, Protectionist wins the Melbourne Cup.
• One World Trade Center (pictured), at 1,776 feet (541 m) the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opens.
• A suicide attack at Pakistan's Wagah border kills at least 60 people and injures more than 100 others.
• The Juncker Commission, the European Commission that is due to serve as the European Union's executive body until 2019, takes office.
• Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashes in the Mojave Desert during a test flight, killing the co-pilot.

Ongoing:

Ebola outbreak –

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Recent deaths:

Acker Bilk

November 9: Inventors' Day in Austria, Germany and Switzerland; Remembrance Sunday in the Commonwealth (2014); Muhammad Iqbal's Day in Pakistan

• 1822 – USS Alligator engaged three piratical schooners off the coast of Cuba in one of the West Indies anti-piracy operations of the United States.
• 1914 – First World War: In the Cocos Islands, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney sank SMS Emden, the last active Central Powers warship in the Indian Ocean.
• 1938 – Kristallnacht began as SA stormtroopers and civilians destroyed and ransacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues in Germany and Austria, resulting in at least 90 deaths and the deportation of over 25,000 others to concentration camps.
• 1985 – At age 22, Garry Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov.
• 1989 – East Germany announced the opening of the inner German border and the Berlin Wall (pictured), marking the symbolic end of the Cold War, the impending collapse of the Warsaw Pact, and the beginning of the end of Soviet communism.

More anniversaries: November 8 – November 9 – November 10

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An 1872 poster for the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, offering land for settlement in Iowa and Nebraska. At this point in their histories, both states were attempting to attract immigrants and increase their populations, a form of boosterism in which the company participated. The railroad offered farmers the chance to purchase land grant parcels on easy credit terms; this poster advertises low prices, with 10 years credit and 6 percent interest. Through such efforts, railroads facilitated and accelerated the peopling and development of the Great Plains.

Poster: Burlington and Missouri River Railroad; restoration: Lise Broer