Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 December 16

Geastrum quadrifidum, commonly known as the rayed earthstar, is an inedible species of mushroom belonging to the genus Geastrum, the earthstar fungi. First described by Christian Hendrik Persoon in 1794, it is a cosmopolitan but uncommon species found in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. The fungus feeds off decomposing organic matter in the litter and soil of coniferous forests. The small, grayish-brown fruit bodies are enclosed by a skin, or peridium, made up of four layers of tissue. The outer layer splits to form star-like rays and expose a spore case, inside of which is the gleba—fertile spore-producing tissue. The spore case, set on a short, slender stalk, has a well-defined narrow pore at the top through which mature spores escape. The mushroom's outer skin is purplish-brown, with four or five cream or yellowish-brown rays whose tips are stuck in the substrate. This species is one of several earthstars whose rays arch downward as they mature, lifting the spore sac upward and allowing it to catch air currents that disseminate the spores. (Full article...)

• Recently featured:

  • Ununseptium
  • Toledo War
  • Canadian drug charges and trial of Jimi Hendrix

• ... that the Sariraka Upanishad, a Hindu text on human physiology (pictured), states that the body is a composite of constituent elements, and that the soul, or jiva, is "the lord of the body"?
• ... that Claudette Sorel discovered and premiered two previously unknown Rachmaninoff nocturnes?
• ... that Lilo Milchsack was one of "the architects of post-war Europe"?
• ... that people from 19 countries can visit Kazakhstan without a visa?
• ... that Bank Tabungan Negara, established in 1897, was frozen during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia and then nationalized by the Indonesian government after the war?
• ... that the Gateway Center shopping mall in Brooklyn, New York, is built on a former landfill?
• ... that Anne Beloff-Chain founded the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Buckingham?
• ... that the American ballad "Cold Rain and Snow" was performed by the Grateful Dead throughout their career?

• Soyuz TMA-19M (pictured) is launched to the International Space Station.
• At COP 21, parties to the UNFCCC adopt an agreement aimed at limiting the rise in global temperatures to 2 °C (3.6 °F) above pre-industrial levels.
• Saudi Arabia holds its first municipal elections open to women.
• At least 87 people are killed amidst ongoing political unrest in Burundi.
• American chemical companies DuPont and Dow agree to an estimated $130 billion merger.
• The JAXA probe Akatsuki enters orbit around Venus five years after the first attempt.

• Ongoing events:

  • Syrian Civil War
  • European migrant crisis

• Recent deaths:

  • Dolph Schayes

December 16: National Day in Bahrain; Victory Day in Bangladesh and India (1971)

• 1598 – Admiral Yi Sun-sin's Korean navy defeated the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Noryang, the final naval battle of the Imjin War.
• 1653 – Oliver Cromwell (pictured) became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England.
• 1918 – Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declared the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by Soviet Russia to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War.
• 1930 – Herman Lamm, "the father of modern bank robbery", killed himself during a botched robbery attempt in Clinton, Indiana, US, rather than be captured by police.
• 2012 – A woman in New Delhi was gang-raped on a bus, generating public protests across the country against the Government of India and the Government of Delhi for not providing adequate security for women.

• More anniversaries:

  • December 15
  • December 16
  • December 17

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

|style="padding:0 0.9em 0 0;" | File:Noel Coward Allan warren edit 1.jpg

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

Sir Noël Coward (1899–1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer. Coward published more than 50 plays, many of which have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. He composed hundreds of songs, well over a dozen musical theatre works, screenplays, poetry, several volumes of short stories, a novel, and a three-volume autobiography. Coward's stage and film acting and directing career spanned six decades, during which he starred in many of his own works and won an Academy Honorary Award in 1943. In the 1950s he achieved fresh success as a cabaret performer, performing his own songs. His plays and songs achieved new popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and his work and style continue to influence popular culture.

Photograph: Allan Warren; edit: Adam Cuerden

• Recently featured:

  • Gall–Peters projection
  • Lee Remick
  • Cliff Dwellers