Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 2023
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March 1
Nigel (c. 1100 – 1169) was Treasurer of England under King Henry I, before being appointed to the see of Ely in 1133. Nigel owed his advancement to his uncle, Roger of Salisbury, a bishop and government minister. After the accession of Henry I's successor, King Stephen, Nigel remained as treasurer only briefly. He deserted to Stephen's rival Empress Matilda, and never regained high office under Stephen. On the king's death, Nigel was returned to the treasurership by Henry II. In Nigel's second tenure as treasurer, he returned the administration to the practices of Henry I. He withdrew from much of his public work after around 1164, following an attack of paralysis. He was succeeded as treasurer by his son, Richard FitzNeal, whom he had trained in the operations of the Exchequer, or Treasury of England. Most historians have felt that Nigel's administrative abilities were excellent; he is considered to have been more talented as an administrator than as a religious figure. (Full article...)
March 2
Cyclone Dumazile was a strong tropical cyclone in the South-West Indian Ocean that affected Madagascar and Réunion in early March 2018. Dumazile originated from a low-pressure area that formed near Agaléga on 27 February. It became a tropical disturbance on 2 March, and was named the next day after attaining tropical storm status. Dumazile reached its peak intensity on 5 March, with 10-minute sustained winds of 165 km/h (105 mph), 1-minute sustained winds of 205 km/h (125 mph), and a central atmospheric pressure of 945 hPa (27.91 inHg). As it tracked southeastwards, Dumazile weakened steadily over the next couple of days due to wind shear, and became a post-tropical cyclone on 7 March before completely dissipating on 10 March. Dumazile dropped torrential rainfall in Réunion and Madagascar—reaching 1,600 mm (63 in) in Salazie and 210 mm (8.3 in) in northeastern Madagascar—causing widespread flooding and damaging crops and infrastructure. Two deaths were caused by Dumazile, both in Madagascar. (Full article...)
March 3
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The Waddesdon Bequest was left to the British Museum in 1898 by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild's will. Taken from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor, it consists of almost 300 pieces, including jewellery, plate, enamel, carvings, glass and maiolica. Earlier than most objects is the Holy Thorn Reliquary, probably created in the 1390s in Paris for John, Duke of Berry. The wide-ranging collection is in the tradition of a treasure house, such as those owned by the Renaissance princes of Europe. Most of the objects are from late Renaissance Europe; there are several important medieval pieces, and outliers from classical antiquity and medieval Syria. Rothschild selected intricate, superbly executed, highly decorated and rather ostentatious works of the Late Gothic, Renaissance and Mannerist periods for this collection. Few of the objects relied on the Baroque sculptural movement for their effect, though several come from periods and places where many Baroque pieces were being made. (Full article...)
March 4
The hooded pitohui, found in New Guinea, is a medium-sized songbird with rich chestnut and black plumage. It is one of the few known poisonous birds, containing a range of batrachotoxin compounds in its skin, feathers and other tissues. These toxins are thought to be derived from their diet, and may function both to deter predators and to protect the bird from parasites. The toxic nature of this bird is well known to local hunters, who avoid it. The hooded pitohui is found in forests from sea level up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), but is most common in hills and low mountains. A social bird, it lives in family groups and frequently joins and even leads mixed-species foraging flocks. The diet is made up of fruits, seeds and invertebrates. This species is apparently a cooperative breeder, with family groups helping to protect the nest and feed the young. The hooded pitohui is common and not currently at risk of extinction, with its numbers being stable. (Full article...)
March 5
Simonie Michael (1933–2008) was a Canadian politician from the eastern Northwest Territories (later Nunavut) who was the first Inuk elected to a legislature in Canada. Before becoming involved in politics, Michael worked as a carpenter and business owner, and was one of very few translators between Inuktitut and English. He became a prominent member of the Inuit co-operative housing movement and a community activist in Iqaluit, and was appointed to a series of governing bodies, including the precursor to the Iqaluit City Council. He became the first elected Inuk member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Council in 1966, where he worked on infrastructure and public health initiatives. Michael is credited with bringing public attention to the dehumanizing effects of the disc number system, in which Inuit were assigned alphanumerical identifiers in place of surnames. Michael helped prompt the government to authorise Project Surname, which replaced the disc numbers with names. (Full article...)
March 6
Operation Flavius was a military operation in which three members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) were killed by the British Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988. The three were believed to be mounting a car bomb attack on British military personnel, but they proved to be unarmed and no bomb was discovered. This event started a violent spree in which mourners were killed at the funeral of the IRA members, then two British soldiers were killed after they accidentally drove into a funeral procession for one of the mourners. A documentary, "Death on the Rock", was televised on 24 April 1988 and presented the possibility that the three IRA members had been unlawfully killed. An inquest ruled that the SAS had acted lawfully, but the European Court of Human Rights held that the planning and control of the operation was so flawed as to make the use of lethal force almost inevitable, a breach of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. (Full article...)
March 7
The armadillo shoe is a high fashion platform shoe created by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen (pictured) for his final collection, Plato's Atlantis (Spring/Summer 2010). Only 24 pairs exist: 21 were made during the initial production in 2009, and 3 were made in 2015 for a charity auction. The shoes are named for their unusual convex curved shape, which resembles an armadillo. Each pair is approximately 12 inches (30 cm) in height, with a 9-inch (23 cm) spike heel; this extreme height caused some models to refuse to walk in them. American pop star Lady Gaga famously wore the shoes in several public appearances, including the music video for her 2009 single "Bad Romance". They are often considered iconic in the Plato's Atlantis collection, McQueen's body of work, and fashion history in general. Criticism focused on the height of the heel, which has been viewed as impractical, even unsafe. Critics have called them both grotesque and beautiful, sometimes in the same review. (Full article...)
March 8
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Eunice Newton Foote (1819–1888) was an American inventor, women's rights campaigner, and the first scientist to conclude that rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) could impact climate. Born in Connecticut, she was raised in New York at the center of movements such as the abolition of slavery, anti-alcohol activism, and women's rights. The Troy Female Seminary and Rensselaer School gave her a broad education in science. After marrying an attorney in 1841, Foote settled in Seneca Falls. She signed the Declaration of Sentiments and edited the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention's proceedings. In 1856 she published a paper (pictured) demonstrating the absorption of heat by CO2 and water vapor, hypothesizing that changing amounts of atmospheric CO2 would alter the climate. Foote died in 1888; her contributions were largely unknown before being rediscovered by women academics in the late 20th century. The American Geophysical Union instituted the Eunice Newton Foote Medal for Earth-Life Science in 2022. (Full article...)
March 9
Sumitro Djojohadikusumo (1917–2001) was an Indonesian statesman and economist. Widely considered to be Indonesia's most influential policymaker during his time, he joined the republican government during the Indonesian National Revolution after his economics education in the Netherlands. During Indonesia's era of liberal democracy, he served once as industry and trade minister and twice as finance minister. Unpopular due to his stance favoring foreign investment, he joined the insurrectionary Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia, operating from abroad as the movement's fundraiser and foreign minister. Following the movement's defeat, he remained abroad in exile until Suharto took power and invited him back. Appointed as trade minister in 1968 and research minister in 1973, Sumitro also established private business interests and a political presence for his family. After his departure from government in 1978, he continued to work as an economist until his death. (Full article...)
March 10
James B. Weaver (1833–1912) was a two-time candidate for US president and a congressman from Iowa. After serving in the Union Army in the Civil War, Weaver worked for the election of Republican candidates, but switched to the Greenback Party in 1877, and won election to the House in 1878. The Greenbackers nominated Weaver for president in 1880, but he received only 3.3 percent of the popular vote. He was again elected to the House in 1884 and 1886, where he worked for expansion of the money supply and for the opening of Indian Territory to white settlement. As the Greenback Party fell apart, he helped organize a new left-wing party, the Populists, and was their nominee for president in 1892. This time he gained 8.5 percent of the popular vote and won five states. Several of Weaver's political goals became law after his death, including the direct election of senators and a graduated income tax. (This article is part of a featured topic: 1880 United States presidential election.)
March 11
Starship Troopers is a 1959 military science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein (pictured). The first-person narrative follows Juan "Johnny" Rico through his military service in the Mobile Infantry, most of which takes place during an interstellar war between humans and an alien species known as "Arachnids" or "Bugs". Interspersed with the primary plot are classroom scenes in which Rico and others discuss philosophical and moral issues, including aspects of suffrage (restricted in Rico's society), civic virtue, juvenile delinquency, and war; these discussions have been described as expounding Heinlein's own political views. A coming-of-age novel, Starship Troopers also critiques the US society of the 1950s, arguing that a lack of discipline had led to a moral decline. Starship Troopers brought to an end Heinlein's juvenile novel series. It became one of his best-selling books, and won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. The story has been adapted several times, including in a 1997 film version. (Full article...)
March 12
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It's That Man Again (ITMA) was a radio comedy programme that was broadcast by the BBC for twelve series from 1939 to 1949, featuring Tommy Handley in the central role. ITMA was a character-driven comedy whose satirical targets included officialdom and the proliferation of minor wartime regulations. Parts of the scripts were rewritten in the hours before the broadcast, to ensure topicality. ITMA was an important contributor to British morale during the war, with its cheerful take on the day-to-day preoccupations of the public, but its detailed topicality—one of its greatest attractions at the time—has prevented it from wearing well on repeated hearing. Handley died during the twelfth series, the remaining programmes of which were immediately cancelled: ITMA could not work without him, and no further series were commissioned. ITMA's innovative structure was successfully continued in comedy shows of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Take It from Here, The Goon Show and Round the Horne. (Full article...)
March 13
Final Fantasy X-2 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation 2, first released in Japan on March 13, 2003. A direct sequel to 2001's Final Fantasy X, the game follows Yuna as she searches for Tidus, the main character of the previous game, while trying to prevent political conflicts in Spira from escalating to war. Its gameplay follows a similar structure to other titles in the Final Fantasy series, with players commanding a cast of characters as they progress through the story exploring the in-game world and battling enemies. The game was the last in the series to be released by Square before its merger with Enix, and the first to be a sequel to a previous Final Fantasy game. X-2 was a commercial and critical success, selling over 5 million copies on PlayStation 2 and winning a number of awards. A high-definition remaster was released on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2013 and on other consoles in subsequent years. (Full article...)
March 14
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Matthew Quay (1833–1904) represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1887 until 1899 and from 1901 until his death. As chair of the Republican National Committee and thus party campaign manager, he helped elect Benjamin Harrison president in 1888; he was also instrumental in the 1900 election of Theodore Roosevelt as vice president. Quay received the Medal of Honor for heroism at the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg. Beginning in 1867, he became part of the political machine run by Senator Simon Cameron. Quay served as the secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia county recorder, and Pennsylvania state treasurer. The last office, to which he was elected in 1885, made him the state's Republican political boss. At his height, Quay influenced appointments to thousands of state and federal positions in Pennsylvania, the occupants of which had to help finance the machine. After his death, the machine was taken over by the state's other senator, Boies Penrose, who continued to run it until his own death in 1921. (Full article...)
March 15
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The Holocaust in Greece was the mass murder of Greek Jews during World War II. Prior to the war, some 72,000 to 77,000 Jews lived in Greece, around 50,000 of them in Salonica. In April 1941, Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria invaded and occupied Greece. In March 1943, more than 4,000 Jews were deported from the Bulgarian occupation zone to Treblinka extermination camp. From 15 March through August, almost all of Salonica's Jews were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp. After the Italian armistice in September 1943, Germany took over the Italian occupation zone. In March 1944, Athens and other parts of mainland Greece witnessed the deportation of their Jewish communities. In mid-1944, Jews living in the Greek islands were targeted. Around 10,000 Jews survived the Holocaust either by going into hiding, fighting with the Greek resistance, or surviving their deportation. By 1945, between 83 and 87 percent of Greek Jews had been murdered, one of the highest proportions in Europe. (Full article...)
March 16
The Bougainville counterattack (8–25 March 1944) was an unsuccessful Japanese offensive against the Allied base at Cape Torokina, on Bougainville Island (now part of Papua New Guinea), during the Pacific War of the Second World War. The goal of the offensive was to destroy the Allied beachhead, which accommodated three strategically important airfields. The Allies detected Japanese preparations and strengthened the base's defenses. The attack, hampered by inaccurate intelligence and poor planning, was repulsed mainly by United States Army forces (artillery pictured) after intense fighting. The Japanese commanders had underestimated the strength of the U.S. defenders, who greatly outnumbered them, and suffered severe casualties, while Allied losses were light. This attack was the last big Japanese offensive in the Solomon Islands campaign. In late 1944 Australian troops took over from the Americans and began a series of advances across the island that lasted until the end of the war in August 1945. (Full article...)
March 17
This Year's Model is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello (pictured), released on 17 March 1978 through Radar Records with his new backing band, the Attractions. It was recorded at Eden Studios in late 1977 and early 1978. Nick Lowe was the producer, and Roger Béchirian the engineer. The songs embrace new wave, power pop and punk rock; the lyrics explore subjects such as mass control and relationships. The cover art, by Barney Bubbles, shows Costello behind a camera, emphasising his role as an observer. The singles "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and "Pump It Up" were commercially successful and the album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart. The US LP reached number 30 on Billboard's Top LPs & Tape chart. The album received critical acclaim for its songwriting and performances; it has been described as one of Costello's best works and has appeared on several lists of all-time greatest albums. A new version of the album was released in 2021. (Full article...)
March 18
Wiley Rutledge (1894–1949) served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1943 to 1949. The ninth and final justice appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he is known for his impassioned defenses of civil liberties. He practiced law in Colorado before becoming a law school professor and dean. Rutledge supported New Deal policies and other proposals by Roosevelt, who appointed him to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1939 and to the Supreme Court in 1943. Rutledge favored broad interpretations of the First Amendment, and he argued that the Bill of Rights applied in its totality to the states. In other cases, Rutledge fervently supported broad due process rights in criminal cases, and he opposed discrimination against women and racial minorities. However, he joined the majority in two cases – Hirabayashi v. United States (1943) and Korematsu v. United States (1944) – that upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. (Full article...)
March 19
The Branford Steam Railroad is a 7.2-mile (11.6 km) standard-gauge industrial railroad that serves the Tilcon Connecticut stone quarry in North Branford, Connecticut, in the United States. It was founded in 1903 by Louis A. Fisk, a businessman from Branford, Connecticut, to transport passengers to a trotting park for horses. By 1916, the company had ended passenger service in favor of freight transport. The company has hauled trap rock from the Totoket Mountain quarry in North Branford continuously since 1914. A southern extension was built to a dock on Long Island Sound at Pine Orchard, Branford, which remains in use today to transfer rock to barges. Trap rock is also transported by rail to an interchange with the Providence and Worcester Railroad. The company's last steam locomotive was retired in 1960; the name is retained to distinguish it from the nearby Branford Electric Railway, operated by a museum dedicated to streetcars. (Full article...)
March 20
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"Meet Kevin Johnson" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Lost and first aired March 20, 2008, on ABC in the United States. It was written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Brian K. Vaughan, and directed by Stephen Williams. Most of the narrative is a flashback centering on Michael Dawson, played by Harold Perrineau (pictured), in the month preceding the show's present day. The writers completed the episode on the first day of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. ABC pledged to air the episode regardless of the strike's resolution even though the writers felt that its cliffhanger was unsuitable as a potential season finale. Thirteen million Americans watched the episode. Its climax was criticized for its placement in the story and its focus on secondary characters. Critics responded well to Michael's emotional journey but complained that his physical journey conflicted with Lost's timeline. The episode was given the fourth season's only Primetime Emmy Award, for its sound mixing. (Full article...)
March 21
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature. He garnered international attention for his novel Things Fall Apart (1958) and published three further novels in less than ten years. Achebe sought to escape the colonial perspective that framed African literature. He drew from the traditions of the Igbo people, Christianity and the clash of Western and African values. Achebe supported Biafran independence in 1967 and was an ambassador for the movement; during the Nigerian Civil War he appealed to Europe and the Americas for aid. After the Nigerian government retook the region, he involved himself in political parties but distanced himself after having negative experiences with them. He moved to the United States in 1990 after a car crash left him partially disabled. He was a professor of African studies at Brown University until his death in 2013. (Full article...)
March 22
The 4th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Union Army in the American Civil War. Formed mostly from a militia unit in Norristown in southeastern Pennsylvania, the regiment enlisted at the start of the war in April 1861 for a three-month period of service under the command of Colonel John F. Hartranft. The regiment served as part of the garrison of Washington, D.C., until late June, when it was sent into Northern Virginia to join the army of Brigadier General Irvin McDowell. The regiment suffered its only combat casualties in a picket action on June 30 and was sent back to be mustered out on the eve of the First Battle of Bull Run owing to disagreement among the men over remaining after their term of service expired. Its men were denounced as cowards for being members of the only regiment to refuse to fight at the July 21 battle. Hartranft and a company commander stayed with the army and both later received the Medal of Honor for their actions at Bull Run. (Full article...)
March 23
Herbie Hewett (1864–1921) was an English amateur cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset, captaining them from 1889 to 1893, as well as for Oxford University and the Marylebone Cricket Club. A battling left-handed opening batsman, Hewett could post a large score in a short time against even the best bowlers. Capable of hitting the ball powerfully, he combined an excellent eye with an unorthodox style to be regarded at his peak as one of England's finest batsmen. Educated at Harrow School, Hewett won a blue at Oxford in 1886 and played for Somerset from 1884. In 1892, he made 1,407 runs at an average of more than 35, and was named as one of the "Five Batsmen of the Year" by Wisden in 1893. England did not play any Test matches at home in 1892, or else Hewett would probably have won a Test cap; instead his highest accolade was being selected to play for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's in 1894. Hewett practised as a barrister, having been called to the bar at the Inner Temple. (Full article...)
March 24
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Nelson's Pillar was a large granite column capped by a statue of Horatio Nelson, erected in the centre of O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland, in 1809. It was severely damaged by explosives in March 1966 and demolished a week later. The monument was erected after the euphoria following Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It proved a popular tourist attraction but provoked aesthetic and political controversy, and there were frequent calls for it to be removed, or replaced with a memorial to an Irish hero. Nevertheless it remained. Its destruction just before the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising was, on the whole, well received by the Irish public. The police could identify no one responsible; when in 2000 a former republican activist admitted planting the explosives, he was not charged. Relics of the Pillar are found in various Dublin locations, and its memory is preserved in numerous works of Irish literature. (Full article...)
March 25
Jim Lovell (born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut. The first person to fly four times in space, he commanded Apollo 13 (1970), which suffered a failure en route and looped around the Moon. Lovell also flew twice during Project Gemini, and flew with Frank Borman and William Anders on Apollo 8 (1968), the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon. Lovell was the first person to fly to the Moon twice, though due to the Apollo 13 abort, he never landed on it. A graduate of the Naval Academy class of 1952, Lovell became a test pilot, and missed selection by NASA as one of the Mercury Seven astronauts due to a temporarily high bilirubin count. He was accepted in September 1962 as a member of NASA's second group of astronauts, and is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He co-authored the book Lost Moon, the basis for the film Apollo 13, in which he appeared in a cameo. (This article is part of a featured topic: NASA Astronaut Group 2.)
March 26
Tell All Your Friends is the debut studio album by American rock band Taking Back Sunday, released on March 26, 2002, through Victory Records. Forming in 1999, the group underwent several line-up changes before settling on vocalist Adam Lazzara, guitarist and vocalist John Nolan (pictured), guitarist Eddie Reyes, bassist Shaun Cooper, and drummer Mark O'Connell. They recorded the album with producer Sal Villanueva at Big Blue Meenie Recording Studio in New Jersey. After the release, they promoted it with various tours of the US alongside Brand New and the Used. Nolan and Cooper then left the group in 2003 and were replaced by Fred Mascherino and Matt Rubano, respectively. Soon afterwards, they went on a co-headlining tour with Saves the Day to close out the year. The album is the longest-running release of Victory Records on the US Billboard magazine's Heatseekers and Independent Albums charts at 68 and 78 weeks, respectively. Certified gold in the US, it has sold a million copies worldwide. (Full article...)
March 27
USS Princess Matoika was a transport ship for the United States Navy during World War I. Before the war, she was a Barbarossa-class ocean liner for the Hamburg America Line and North German Lloyd. Interned with the outbreak of World War I, she was seized by the U.S. in 1917 and carried more than 50,000 U.S. troops between 1918 and 1919. As a U.S. Army transport ship, in July 1920, she was a last-minute substitute to carry much of the U.S. team to the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. From the perspective of the team, the trip was disastrous; athletes published their grievances in an action known today as the mutiny of the Matoika. In civilian service, she was SS Princess Matoika until 1922, SS President Arthur until 1927, and SS City of Honolulu until she was scrapped in 1933. On her maiden voyage in 1924 as President Arthur of the Jewish-owned American Palestine Line, she reportedly became the first ocean liner to fly the Zionist flag at sea and the first ocean liner to have female officers. (Full article...)
March 28
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An enzyme inhibitor is a molecule that binds to an enzyme's active site, or another site on the enzyme, and blocks the enzyme's catalysis of the reaction. Enzyme inhibitors are generally specific to one enzyme and control that enzyme's activity. They also control essential enzymes such as proteases or nucleases that, if left unchecked, may damage a cell. Many poisons produced by animals or plants are enzyme inhibitors, and many drug molecules are enzyme inhibitors that inhibit an aberrant human enzyme or an enzyme critical for the survival of a pathogen. Since anti-pathogen inhibitors generally target only one enzyme, such drugs are highly specific and generally produce few side effects in humans. Medicinal enzyme inhibitors often have low dissociation constants, meaning a minute amount of the inhibitor will inhibit the enzyme. The discovery of enzyme inhibitors and their refinement are researched in biochemistry and pharmacology. (Full article...)
March 29
Proteus is a 2013 exploration and walking simulator video game designed and created by Ed Key and David Kanaga for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux. Versions for the PlayStation 3 video game console and the Vita handheld console were developed by Curve Studios. Key first conceived Proteus as an open-ended role-playing game, but redesigned it to be "nontraditional and nonviolent", without prescribed goals. The flora and fauna of the procedurally generated world (pictured) emit unique musical signatures that trigger changes to the background music as the player moves about the world. Before its full release, Proteus won the prize for Best Audio at the 2011 IndieCade awards. In 2012 it was a finalist for the Independent Games Festival's Nuovo Award and was featured in an exhibit at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Following its release, critics praised the game, especially for its audio features, although some criticised its brevity and limited replayability. Journalists debated whether Proteus should be described as a video game. (Full article...)
March 30
23 Wall Street, also known as the J.P. Morgan Building, is an office building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, at the southeast corner of Wall Street and Broad Street. The four-story building, designed by Trowbridge & Livingston in the Neoclassical style, was constructed between 1913 and 1914. When it was damaged during the Wall Street bombing in 1920, J.P. Morgan & Co. refused to make repairs to defy the bombers. The building was the firm's headquarters until 1989, when the company moved to 60 Wall Street. During the 2000s, there were plans to convert 23 Wall Street into condominiums. The building was sold in 2008 to interests associated with the billionaire industrialist Sam Pa. It has mostly remained empty, although it has been used for events. The building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP); it is also a contributing property to the NRHP-listed Wall Street Historic District. (Full article...)
March 31
The Delaware Tercentenary half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent coin designed by Carl L. Schmitz and minted by the United States Bureau of the Mint to mark the 300th anniversary of New Sweden, the first successful European settlement in Delaware. Also known as the Swedish Delaware half dollar, the coin was produced by the Philadelphia Mint in March 1937, though that year appears nowhere on the piece. The obverse (pictured) shows Wilmington's Old Swedes Church, one of the oldest Protestant churches in the United States still standing, while the reverse features the ship Kalmar Nyckel, which carried emigrants to New Sweden. Schmitz won a competition to design the coin. The half dollars were sold to the public by the Delaware Swedish Tercentenary Commission for $1.75 each, and more than 20,000 coins were sold of the 25,000 coins minted for sale. The profits were used to help fund the tercentenary celebrations. (Full article...)