Article of the day for March 2, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 2, 2019 is Battle of Auberoche.
The Battle of Auberoche was fought during the Gascon campaign of 1345 on 21 October between a 1,200-strong force composed of English and local Gascons under Henry, Earl of Derby, and a French army of 7,000 commanded by Louis of Poitiers. It was fought at the village of Auberoche near Périgueux in northern Aquitaine. At the time, Gascony was a territory of the English Crown. The battle resulted in a heavy French defeat and they suffered very high casualties, with their leaders killed or captured. The battle took place during the early stages of the Hundred Years' War. Along with the Battle of Bergerac earlier in the year, it marked a change in the military balance of power in the region after the French position collapsed. It was one of a series of victories which would lead to Henry of Derby being called "one of the best warriors in the world" by a contemporary chronicler.

Article of the day for March 1, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 1, 2019 is Germanium.
Germanium is a chemical element with symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is a lustrous, hard, greyish-white metalloid in the carbon group, chemically similar to silicon (Si) and tin (Sn). In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev predicted the existence of germanium (and later some of its properties) based on its position in his periodic table (extract pictured). In 1886, Clemens Winkler discovered the element in a rare mineral called argyrodite. Mendeleev's predictions closely matched the properties of germanium, and this contributed to the wider acceptance of his periodic table. Germanium is a semiconductor used in transistors and various electronic devices, fibre-optic systems, infrared optics, solar cell applications, and light-emitting diodes. It is mined primarily from sphalerite (a zinc ore), along with silver, lead, and copper ores.

Article of the day for February 28, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 28, 2019 is Dark Angel (2000 TV series).
Dark Angel is an American cyberpunk television series that premiered in October 2000. Created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee, it starred Jessica Alba (pictured) in her breakthrough role. Set in 2019, the series chronicles the life of Max Guevara (Alba), a genetically enhanced super-soldier who escapes from a covert military facility as a child. In a post-apocalyptic Seattle, she tries to lead a normal life, while eluding capture by government agents and searching for her siblings scattered in the aftermath of their escape. The first season received mainly positive reviews and won several awards, including the People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama. The second (final) season received some criticism for new plot elements. A series of novels continued the storyline, and a video game adaptation was released. Dark Angel has gothic and female empowerment themes, and Max has been compared to other strong female characters in Cameron's work, including Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley.

Article of the day for February 27, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 27, 2019 is Battle of San Patricio.
The Battle of San Patricio was fought on February 27, 1836, between Mexican troops and Texians, rebellious settlers in the Mexican province of Texas. The battle marked the start of the Goliad Campaign, the Mexican offensive to retake the Texas Gulf Coast. By the end of 1835, all Mexican troops had been driven from Texas. Frank W. Johnson, the commander of the volunteer army in Texas, gathered volunteers for a planned invasion of the Mexican port town of Matamoros. After spending several weeks gathering horses, in late February Johnson and about 40 men led the herd to San Patricio. He assigned some of his troops to a ranch outside town to guard the horses. Unbeknownst to the Texians, on February 18 Mexican General José de Urrea (pictured) had led a large contingent of troops from Matamoros into Texas. Urrea's men easily followed the trail left by the horses, and surprised the sleeping Texians in San Patricio. After a fifteen-minute battle, all but six Texians had been killed or imprisoned.

Article of the day for February 26, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 26, 2019 is Waisale Serevi.
Waisale Serevi (born 1968) is a former Fijian rugby union footballer and coach. A member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame, he is widely considered to be the greatest rugby sevens player in the history of the game. In the 15-man game, he played for Fiji 39 times between 1989 and 2003, scoring 376 points and representing his country in the 1991, 1999, and 2003 Rugby World Cups. He also played professionally for the Mitsubishi, Leicester, Stade Montois, Stade Bordelais and Staines rugby teams. His representative sevens career started in 1989 when he played for Fiji at the Hong Kong tournament. Serevi also played in the 1993, 1997, 2001, and 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens, winning the World Cup with Fiji in 1997 and 2005. He won silver at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and 2002, and captured bronze in 2006. After winning the 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Serevi was appointed player-coach of the Fiji Sevens national team, and led them to a 2005–06 World Sevens Series victory.

Article of the day for February 25, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 25, 2019 is Halo: Combat Evolved.
The Flood is a fictional parasitic alien life form. Flood-infected creatures, also called Flood, in turn infect other sentient hosts. They were introduced as a second enemy faction in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game in Bungie's Halo multimedia franchise. Their design and fiction was spearheaded by Bungie artist Robert McLees, with sound design led by Martin O'Donnell. The ringworld setting of the first Halo game was stripped of many of its large creatures for Halo 2 to make the Flood's surprise appearance more startling. For Halo 3, Bungie environment artist Vic DeLeon spent six months of pre-production time refining their fleshy aesthetic and designing the organic interiors of Flood-infested space ships. Reaction to the Flood has varied; while some reviewers found the creatures too derivative and a cliché element of science fiction, others ranked them among the greatest video game villains of all time.

Article of the day for February 24, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 24, 2019 is Plesiorycteropus.
Plesiorycteropus was a mammal from Madagascar that became extinct sometime after 200 BCE, as evidenced by radiocarbon dating. Upon its description in 1895 by French naturalist Henri Filhol, Plesiorycteropus was classified with the aardvark, but more recent studies have found little evidence for that linkage. Molecular evidence instead suggests that it is related to the tenrecs, in the order Afrosoricida. Two species are recognized, the larger P. madagascariensis and the smaller P. germainepetterae; subfossil remains of both species have been found in the same site. Only limb and partial pelvis and skull bones have been recovered to date. Plesiorycteropus was probably a digging animal that fed on insects such as termites and ants. It also shows adaptations for climbing and sitting. Estimates of its mass range from 6 to 18 kilograms (13 to 40 lb). Forest destruction by humans may have contributed to its extinction.