Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 October 24

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From today's featured article

Cover of the June 1958 issue

Super-Science Fiction was an American digest science fiction magazine published from 1956 to 1959, edited by W. W. Scott and published by Feature Publications. Robert Silverberg and Harlan Ellison were already selling crime stories to Scott for his other magazines, Trapped and Guilty, and started bringing him scores of science fiction stories as well. Many of the magazine's stories were sent in by literary agents, and generally comprised material rejected by other magazines first, though Scott did obtain two stories from Isaac Asimov. After a couple of years Feature switched the focus to monster stories, hoping to cash in on the trend that was making Famous Monsters of Filmland a success at that time, and four more issues appeared before Super-Science Fiction was discontinued in 1959. The magazine is not highly regarded by critics, though Silverberg considers the material he wrote for Scott to have helped him learn his trade as a writer. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

St Mary's Tower on Marygate

... that the first large bathhouse in York was built at the bottom of Marygate (pictured) in 1836?
... that Eli is an opera by Walter Steffens, who based the libretto on a mystery play by Nelly Sachs which dealt with the suffering of Israel?
... that journalist Robert Evans had his hand broken by a member of the Proud Boys while covering the George Floyd protests in Portland, Oregon?
... that according to Slavic mythology, the creation of the world required the cooperation of a "good god" and an "evil god"?
... that If You Could Be Mine was the first novel to win first prize in two different categories in the same year from the Publishing Triangle?
... that Pellegrino Strobel worked with Luigi Pigorini to study the Bronze Age Terramare culture in northern Italy?
... that the essay "In Praise of Polytheism" dismisses all similarities between Enlightenment philosophy and striptease?
... that being introduced to Whiskey enabled one of Samuel Corson's patients to regain his speech after 26 years?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Portal

Luis Arce

The OSIRIS-REx probe touches down and collects a sample from the asteroid Bennu.
Luis Arce (pictured) is elected President of Bolivia in the general election.
Floods in Hyderabad, India, kill at least 81 people.
The New Zealand Labour Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, wins a majority of seats in the general election.

On this day

October 24

Bust of Qutuz

1260 – Qutuz (bust pictured), the sultan of Egypt, was assassinated by fellow Mamluk leader Baibars, who then seized power for himself.
1851 – William Lassell discovered the Uranian moons Umbriel and Ariel.
1931 – The George Washington Bridge, today the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge, connecting New York City to Fort Lee, New Jersey, was dedicated.
1945 – The UN Charter, the constitution of the United Nations, entered into force after being ratified by the five permanent members of the Security Council and a majority of the other signatories.
1960 – A prototype of the Soviet R-16 intercontinental ballistic missile exploded on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR.

Massimo d'Azeglio (b. 1798)
Alexander Wilson (b. 1893)
Richard Hofstadter (d. 1970)

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Today's featured picture

This picture is an illustration by Édouard Manet for a French publication of Edgar Allan Poe's narrative poem "The Raven". In the poem, a raven flies into the narrator's home through the window and perches on a bust of Pallas Athena. The narrator asks the bird a series of questions, to which the bird's only reply is "Nevermore". Eventually, the narrator falls into despair and ends with his final admission that his soul is trapped beneath the raven's shadow and shall be lifted "nevermore". Originally published in 1845, the poem was widely popular and made Poe famous, although it did not bring him much financial success. "The Raven" has influenced many modern works and is referenced throughout popular culture in films, television, music, and more.

Illustration credit: Édouard Manet; restored by Lise Broer

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