Category: 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for November 16, 2017 is Susan B. Anthony dollar.
The Susan B. Anthony dollar is a U.S. dollar coin that was minted from 1979 to 1981, when the series was suspended due to poor public reception, and briefly minted again in 1999. It was proposed as a replacement for the cumbersome Eisenhower dollar. A round planchet with an eleven-sided inner border, acceptable to the vending machine industry (a powerful lobby affecting coin legislation), was chosen for the smaller dollar. Social reformer Susan B. Anthony was selected for the obverse side; on the reverse, the design of the Eisenhower dollar was retained. Both sides of the coin were designed by Frank Gasparro, the Chief Engraver of the United States Mint. The Mint struck 500 million coins, but these entered circulation slowly, in part because of confusion caused by their similarity in size and appearance to the quarter. A final run of these dollar coins was struck in 1999 to compensate for the slow production of the Sacagawea dollar, authorized in 1997. Susan B. Anthony dollars are still plentiful, including many in uncirculated condition, so they hold little extra value for collectors.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/11/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-november_15.html

The Wikipedia article of the day for November 15, 2017 is Bazy Tankersley.
Bazy Tankersley (1921–2013) was an American breeder of Arabian horses and a newspaper publisher. She was a daughter of Senator Joseph M. McCormick and Congresswoman Ruth Hanna McCormick. Her father died when she was a child, and she moved west when her mother remarried, where she was given a part-Arabian horse. She began working as a reporter at 18, and began her horse breeding operation, Al-Marah Arabians, in 1941. In 1949, she became the publisher of the conservative Washington Times-Herald owned by her uncle, Robert R. McCormick, where she became a friend of Senator Joseph McCarthy. When McCormick demanded she choose between the newspaper and Garvin “Tank” Tankersley, who became her second husband, she shifted to full-time horse breeding. By 1957 Al-Marah was the largest Arabian horse farm in the United States. Over her career she bred more than 2,800 registered Arabians. Though she was involved with conservative Republican causes as a young woman, she was a strong supporter of environmental causes in the 21st century and backed Barack Obama for president in 2008. She was a patron of many charities.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/11/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-november_14.html

The Wikipedia article of the day for November 14, 2017 is Ernest Joyce.
Ernest Joyce (c. 1875 – 1940) was a Royal Naval seaman and Antarctic explorer who served under both Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton in the early years of the 20th century. Joyce entered the navy as a boy seaman in 1891; his Antarctic experiences began in 1901 when he joined Scott’s Discovery Expedition. In 1907 Shackleton recruited him to take charge of dogs and sledges on the Nimrod Expedition, a role he performed with distinction. Thus Shackleton employed him in a similar capacity in 1914, as a member of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition’s Ross Sea party. Despite Joyce’s acknowledged heroism during that expedition, it ended his exploring career, although he made attempts to join other expeditions. An abrasive and sometimes truculent character, his effectiveness in the field was nonetheless widely acknowledged. He was awarded a lifesaving Albert Medal and a Polar Medal with four bars, but Joyce made no significant material gains from his exploits, living out his post-Antarctic life in humble circumstances before dying suddenly in 1940.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/11/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-november_13.html

The Wikipedia article of the day for November 13, 2017 is Myriostoma.
Myriostoma, the salt-shaker earthstar, is the largest fungus in the earthstar family, with a fruit body up to 12 cm (4.7 in) across. It has been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. It grows in humus-rich forests or in woodlands, especially on well-drained and sandy soils. Myriostoma coliforme, the only species in the genus, is somewhat rare, appearing on the Red Lists of 12 European countries. It was one of 33 species proposed for protection in 2004 under the Bern Convention by the European Council for Conservation of Fungi. The inedible fruit body, initially shaped like a puffball, is encased in an outer covering that splits open from the top to form rays. These pieces curve down in a star shape to expose a papery spore case surrounding the fertile spore-bearing tissue, the gleba. The fungus is unique among the earthstars in having a spore sac that is supported by multiple stalks, and is perforated by several small holes, suggestive of its common name. The spores are dispersed when falling water hits the sac, forcing them up through the holes.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/11/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-november_12.html

The Wikipedia article of the day for November 12, 2017 is E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction fantasy film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Melissa Mathison, it stars Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote and Pat Welsh. It tells the story of Elliott (Thomas), a lonely boy who befriends a stranded extraterrestrial. Elliott and his siblings help E.T. return home while attempting to hide him from their mother and the government. Filmed on a budget of $10.5 million, it was shot in rough chronological order, to facilitate convincing emotional performances from the young cast. E.T. was an immediate blockbuster, surpassing Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film of all time—a record it held for eleven years until Jurassic Park, another Spielberg-directed film, surpassed it in 1993. Considered one of the greatest films ever made, it was widely acclaimed by critics as a timeless story of friendship, and it ranks as the greatest science fiction film ever made in a Rotten Tomatoes survey. It was re-released in 1985, and then again in 2002 to celebrate its 20th anniversary, with altered shots and additional scenes.

Source http://handbookblogger.blogspot.com/2017/11/wikipedia-article-of-day-for-november_11.html