Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 February 14

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From today's featured article

Madison Michele, the show's host

Chains of Love is an American dating game show that aired for six episodes in April and May 2001 on the United Paramount Network (UPN). Adapted from a Dutch television series, it presents a man or woman who is chained to four members of the opposite sex over four days and nights. This person, identified as the Picker, is given $10,000 and can remove three contestants one at a time. The Picker can give a portion of the money to each eliminated participant. When left with a single partner, the Picker can choose to either split the money or keep it. Madison Michele (pictured) hosted each episode. Originally ordered by NBC, it was produced by UPN as part of a campaign to run more unscripted programming to boost the network's ratings. Media outlets have identified Chains of Love as part of a renaissance in reality television. The show's premise divided television critics, who compared it in structure and tone to Blind Date and The Dating Game. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Au Bois de Boulogne

... that Guth's Au Bois de Boulogne (shown) depicts a fashionable crowd, including the courtesans Liane de Pougy and La Belle Otero?
... that the work of Dr Elizabeth Ross is still commemorated annually in Serbia despite her having spent only three weeks in the country?
... that Eidyn, a Brittonic district of the Early Middle Ages in present-day Scotland, is the source for Edinburgh's name?
... that Liberian-American author Wayétu Moore, once a war refugee, founded a nonprofit organization which publishes culturally relevant books for children in countries with low literacy rates?
... that the Israeli video game Piposh, to be released in 2019, will be a reboot of the original 1999 game of the same name?
... that the law center at Willamette University is named in honor of Oregon businessman and philanthropist Truman W. Collins?
... that construction on the Thessaloniki Metro triggered the largest-ever archaeological dig in northern Greece, unearthing more than 300,000 individual artefacts?
... that the BAFTA-winning documentary 73 Cows tells the story of Jay and Katja Wilde, beef farmers who gave most of their cows to the Hillside Animal Sanctuary and took up vegan organic farming?

In the news

Artist's concept of the Mars rover

NASA concludes the 14-year Opportunity Mars rover mission after being unable to wake the rover (artist's concept shown) from hibernation.
The Republic of Macedonia changes its name to the Republic of North Macedonia as the Prespa agreement takes effect, ending a 27-year naming dispute with Greece.
In an American trial, Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán is found guilty of ten criminal charges, including one mandating life imprisonment.
Roma wins four awards, including Best Film, at the British Academy Film Awards.

On this day

February 14: Valentine's Day

Great Ormond Street Hospital

1779 – English explorer James Cook was killed near Kealakekua when he tried to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief of the island of Hawaii.
1852 – Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children (pictured), the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, was founded in London.
1924 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was renamed to International Business Machines, which grew into one of the world's largest companies by market capitalization.
1979 – Adolph Dubs, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped by unknown agents and killed during a gun battle between Afghan police and the perpetrators.
1989 – A fatwa was issued for the execution of Salman Rushdie for authoring The Satanic Verses, a novel Islamic fundamentalists considered blasphemous.

Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson (d. 1229) · Anna Howard Shaw (b. 1847) · Pam McConnell (b. 1946)

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Today's featured picture

Flowers of the plant Lantana camara with a crab spider waiting in ambush for prey. Part of the family Verbenaceae, L. camara is native to South and Central America and is now found across the world. It is often planted indoors or in a conservatory but can also be used in a garden if it has sufficient shelter. In some areas it has become an invasive species, affecting agricultural areas as a result of its toxicity to livestock and an ability to form dense thickets.

Photograph: Joaquim Alves Gaspar

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