Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2009
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These featured pictures, as scheduled below, appeared as the picture of the day (POTD) on the English Wikipedia's Main Page in December 2009. Individual sections for each day on this page can be linked to with the day number as the anchor name (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2009#1]]
for December 1).
You can add an automatically updating POTD template to your user page using {{Pic of the day}}
(version with blurb) or {{POTD}}
(version without blurb). For instructions on how to make custom POTD layouts, see Wikipedia:Picture of the day.Purge server cache
December 1
A Photo credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim
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December 2
Painting by Jacques-Louis David and Georges Rouget |
December 3
The Photo credit: Fir0002
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December 4
A scene from a late-16th century publication of Persian story Layla and Majnun, which is based on the real story of Qays ibn al-Mulawwah, a young man from the northern Arabian Peninsula and his love Layla. There are two versions of the story, but in both, Majnun goes mad when her father prevents him from marrying her. In the depicted scene, the eponymous star-crossed lovers meet for the last time before their deaths. Both have fainted and Majnun's elderly messenger attempts to revive Layla while wild animals protect the pair from unwelcome intruders.
Artist: Unknown; Restoration: Lise Broer
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December 5
A ca. 1847 hand-tinted Heroic Military Academy, sited in Chapultepec Castle, a castle in Mexico City, Mexico. The castle is depicted in its state following the Battle of Chapultepec in the Mexican–American War, during which it was captured by the United States (as seen by the flag). It is now home to the Museo Nacional de Historia .
Restoration: Lise Broer
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December 6
The Photo credit: David Iliff
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December 7
A small decommissioned in 1947 and struck in 1959.
Photo: United States Navy; Restoration: Lise Broer
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December 8
An Photo credit:
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December 9
The Battle of Jerusalem had begun the day before, but the Turkish forces in the city were no match against the British forces. A Turkish counterattack on December 25 was also repulsed, confirming the capture of Jerusalem by the Allies .
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December 10
Detail from a Japanese woodblock print (ca. 1741–51) of Zhong Kui (called Shōki in Japanese), a Chinese mythological figure traditionally regarded as a vanquisher of ghosts and demons. His image is often painted on household gates as a guardian spirit, as well as in places of business where high-value goods are involved. According to folklore, Zhong Kui was a man who committed suicide after he was stripped of the title "zhuangyuan" (having achieved top honors in the imperial examinations) by the emperor of China because of his disfigured appearance, after which he became king of ghosts in Hell. The print is entitled "Shōki zu" ("Shōki striding") and measures 69 by 10 cm (27.2 by 3.9 in) Artist: Okumura Masanobu; Restoration: Lise Broer |
December 11
Two Red Delicious apples and a cross-section of a third. It was first recognized in 1880 as a red and yellow striped fruit known as a "Hawkeye". Through selective breeding over the years, new cultivars with improved color and earlier harvest time replaced the original, but only at the expense of the taste and texture. This caused consumer demand for Red Delicious apples to drop drastically in favor of other varieties such as the Cameo, Fuji and Gala. Photo credit: Fir0002
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December 12
The flesh-fly species that are found worldwide, almost all of which are nearly impossible to identify on sight. As the common name implies, their larvae typically feed on decaying flesh. Some, however, eat the bacteria and other small organisms living on carrion or feces , as seen here.
Photo credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim
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December 13
The Photo credit: Mick Stephenson
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December 14
The eruption cloud of Mount Redoubt, an active stratovolcano found in the Chigmit Mountains of the U.S. state of Alaska, seen here from the Kenai Peninsula four months after it began erupting on December 14, 1989. This eruption was the first ever to be successfully predicted through the observation of long-period seismic events. Photo credit: R. Clucas,
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December 15
Midway Geyser Basin and the Grand Prismatic Spring, a hot spring located in Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana. The third-largest hot spring in the world, it is known for its vivid colors, which are the result of pigmented bacteria in the microbial mats that grow around the edges of the mineral-rich water. Photo credit: Mila Zinkova
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December 16
An Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, was originally published in the First Folio of 1623, but its first known performance, an adaptation by Nahum Tate , did not take place until 1682.
Restoration: Adam Cuerden
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December 17
A completely deaf .
Photo: W. J. Mayer; Restoration: Lise Broer
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December 18
A 1919 painting depicting the definitive design of the Artist: F. Muller; Restoration: Lise Broer
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December 19
Calliandra emarginata, native to tropical and subtropical regions of southern Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas, is one of about 200 species of flowering plant in the Calliandra genus. The common name for Calliandra species is "Powder-puff plant" or "Fairy Duster" due to the globular arrangement of the long slender stamens in the flowers. Photo credit:
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December 20
Sunrise on the tessellated pavement at Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania. Tessellation (the tiled appearance) of flat-lying sedimentary rock may occur on some ocean shores when the rock fractures through the action of stress on the Earth's crust and is subsequently modified by sand and wave action. Photo credit:
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December 21
A satellite image of the Scandinavian Peninsula in winter. The peninsula, approximately 1,850 kilometers (1,150 miles) long with a width varying between approximately 370–805 km (230–500 mi), making it the largest in Europe, is located in the northern part of the continent and consists of Norway, Sweden and part of Finland. Much of the population is concentrated in the southern part of the peninsula; Stockholm and Gothenburg, both in Sweden, and Oslo in Norway are the largest cities. Photo credit:
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December 22
A Chrysosoma species of long-legged fly (Dolichopodidae), a family of flies that has more than 7,000 described species in about 230 genera distributed worldwide. They are generally fairly small, metallic flies with large, prominent eyes, but despite the common name, not all species have long legs. Photo credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim
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December 23
A pair of Bananaquits (Coereba flaveola), small passerine birds averaging 11 cm (4.3 in) in length native to tropical South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Its curved beak is adapted to taking nectar from flowers, but they will also eat fruit and insects. Photo credit: Leon Bojarczuk
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December 24
The studios were acquired by one of its creditors, the Empire Trust Company.
Restoration: Lise Broer
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December 25
" Artist: Thomas Worth; Restoration: Lise Broer
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December 26
A ca. 1884 King, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. Several key scenes from the play are depicted on the poster, including the initial meeting with King Hamlet's ghost (top right) and the exhuming of Yorick 's skull (bottom center).
Lithography: W.J. Morgan & Co.; Restoration: Adam Cuerden
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December 27
A transferred to British control in 1760 .
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December 28
Pisaura mirabilis is a species of nursery web spider, so named because the female will build a nursery "tent" in which to put the egg sac. Males of this species in particular have been known to offer food to potential female mates. Some will even play dead: when the female approaches to take the food, the male springs back to life to attempt to mate. This gives the males over a 40% success increase of achieving copulation. Photo credit: Richard Bartz
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December 29
7th Cavalry and contingent of Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Sioux (Lakotas ) engaged in battle, resulting in the deaths of 146 Lakotas and 25 troopers.
Photo: Trager & Kuhn; Restoration: Lise Broer
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December 30
Ryū sho ten ("Dragon rising toward heaven"), an 1897 Restoration: Adam Cuerden
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December 31
The snowflake moray (Echidna nebulosa) is a moray eel found throughout much of the tropical portions of the Pacific Ocean at depths of between 2 and 30 m (6.6 and 98.4 ft). It grows up to 1 m (3.3 ft) long and is commonly kept in aquariums. Photo credit: Mila Zinkova
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