User:Allard
Hello and a warm welcome to all my fellow Wikipedians. How nice of you to drop in to see who I am!
Morning>
Wikipedia & me:
[edit]How I discovered Wikipedia, I do not remember. But from being a reader I slowly became a contributor. Although I don't work that much on Wikipedia I do see myself as a Wikipedian. I don't go searching on Wikipedia what I can edit next, I edit what I find and want to do. This means I add and mainly improve a lot of small things and only rarely I make large edits.
My work:
[edit]Articles I've started on Wikipedia:
- Fort Knox Bullion Depository
- Animals are Beautiful People
- Template:David Attenborough Television Series
- Template:Malta Islands
Images I made for Wikipedia:
- Dutch lower house as from 2006
- New image of the Netherlands Air Force Roundel
- Map on membership of the League of Nations
- United Nations membership map
- Improved image of the British Helgoland flag
- New image showing the current flag of Hel(i)goland
Article guide:
[edit]A list of articles worth looking at, if one can find them:
- Antidisestablishmentarianism
- Ball's Pyramid
- British Isles (terminology)
- Eadweard Muybridge
- Gunpowder Plot
- Horace de Vere Cole
- Humphrey (cat)
- Islomania
- List of countries by date of nationhood
- List of flags
- List of people who died on their birthdays
- List of regnal numerals of future British monarchs
- List of unusual deaths
- Northwest Angle
- Quadripoint
- Racetrack Playa
- Rule of tincture
- San Gimignano
- Transcontinental country
- Undivided India & Partition of India
- Voyager Golden Record
- Web colors
- Winchester Mystery House
And there's always the Random article
And to all citizens of the European Union, please read this: Oneseat.eu
News
[edit]- A car attack (aftermath pictured) at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, kills five people and injures more than two hundred others.
- In France, Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men are convicted of the serial rape of his then-wife Gisèle Pelicot.
- A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least sixteen people dead.
- Cyclone Chido leaves more than 170 people dead in southeast Africa.
Selected anniversaries
[edit]- 759 – The Tang-dynasty poet Du Fu departed for Chengdu, where he lived for the next five years and composed poems about life in his thatched cottage.
- 1777 – An expedition led by English explorer James Cook reached Christmas Island (pictured), the largest coral atoll in the world.
- 1814 – The United Kingdom and the United States signed a peace treaty in Ghent, present-day Belgium, ending the War of 1812.
- 1979 – The Soviet government deployed troops in Afghanistan, starting the Soviet–Afghan War.
- 1999 – Jihadists linked to al-Qaeda hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 to force the release of Islamist figures held in prison in India.
- Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik (d. 738)
- George Crabbe (b. 1754)
- Adam Exner (b. 1928)
- Turid Birkeland (d. 2015)
Did you know...
[edit]- ... that Voltairine de Cleyre (pictured), despite losing her ability to move or speak due to illness, refused to accept last rites by scowling at the priest?
- ... that tourte de blettes, a sweet pie made with Swiss chard, is traditionally eaten in Nice on Christmas Eve?
- ... that Casanova's friend Edoardo Tiretta built a bazaar in India?
- ... that Christmas: A Biography states that, despite its Christian origins, Christmas has been mostly secular since its inception in the fourth century?
- ... that Oh Hee-ok was the last surviving female Korean independence activist?
- ... that the Christmas carp traditionally swims in a bathtub for a few days before becoming Christmas Eve dinner?
- ... that Italian anti-Mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri survived three assassination attempts within three weeks?
- ... that in 2016 two thieves stole $350,000 worth of rare books in Oakland, California, and tried to sell some of them to Moe's Books nearby?
- ... that energy executive Chris Wright once drank fracking fluid to prove that it was not dangerous?
Today's featured article
[edit]The Brinks Hotel bombing occurred in Saigon on December 24, 1964, during the Vietnam War. Two Viet Cong operatives detonated a car bomb under the hotel, which housed United States Army officers. The explosion killed two Americans and injured approximately 60 other people. The Viet Cong commanders had two objectives: to demonstrate their ability to strike in South Vietnam should the United States decide to launch air raids against North Vietnam, and to show the South Vietnamese that the Americans could not be relied upon for protection. The bombing prompted debate within United States president Lyndon B. Johnson's administration. Most of his advisers favored retaliatory bombing of North Vietnam and the introduction of American combat troops, while Johnson preferred the existing strategy of training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to protect South Vietnam from the Viet Cong. In the end, Johnson decided not to take retaliatory action. (Full article...)