Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 2005

Today's featured article archive

March 1

The July 15, 1975 rendezvous of the U.S. Apollo and Soviet Soyuz space modules marks the traditional end of the Space Race.

The Space Race was the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union roughly from 1957 to 1975, involving their efforts to explore space with satellites and to eventually land a human being on the Moon and return him to Earth. Though its roots lie in early rocket technology and in the international tensions following World War II, the Space Race effectively began with the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957. The term was coined as an analogy to the arms race. The Space Race became an important part of the cultural and technological rivalry between the USSR and the U.S. during the Cold War. Space technology was a particularly important arena in this conflict, both because of its military applications and due to the psychological benefit of raising morale. (more...)

Recently featured: Hrafnkels saga – Great Lakes Storm of 1913 – Lord's Resistance Army

March 2

The national parks of England and Wales are areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape that are designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Despite the name, national parks in Britain are quite different from those in the United States and many other countries, where national parks are owned and managed by the government as a protected community resource, and permanent human communities are not a part of the landscape. In Britain, designation as a national park can include substantial settlements and land uses which are often integral parts of the landscape, and land within a British national park remains largely in private ownership. There are currently 12 national parks in England and Wales, the newest and smallest being the New Forest, established on March 1, 2005. The South Downs are also in the process of being designated as a national park. Each park is operated by its own National Park Authority. (more...)

Recently featured: Space Race – Hrafnkels saga – Great Lakes Storm of 1913

March 3

Weight training can be the most effective technique for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. As well as providing functional benefits, this can result in a more attractive physique and improve overall health and wellbeing. The technique involves progressively lifting increasing amounts of weight, and includes a variety of exercises and items of equipment to target specific muscle groups. It is an anaerobic form of exercise. Weight training has become the best-known form of resistance training, which is in turn the best-known form of strength training. It should not be confused with bodybuilding, weightlifting or powerlifting—even though these also involve the lifting of weights—because they are sports rather than forms of exercise. (more...)

Recently featured: National parks of England and Wales – Space Race – Hrafnkels saga

March 4

Hilda Doolittle, better known by the pen name H.D., was an American poet, novelist and memoirist. She is best known for her association with the key early 20th century avant-garde Imagist group of poets, although her later writing represents a move away from the Imagist model and towards a distinctly feminine version of modernist poetry and prose. Doolittle was one of the leading figures in the bohemian culture of London in the early decades of the century. Her work is noted for its use of classical models and its exploration of the conflict between lesbian and heterosexual attraction and love that closely resembled her own life. Her later poetry also explores traditional epic themes, such as violence and war, from a feminist perspective. H.D. was the first woman to be granted the American Academy of Arts and Letters medal. (more...)

Recently featured: Weight training – National parks of England and Wales – Space Race

March 5

An unprocessed sample of ammolite on shale matrix

Ammolite is a very rare and valuable opal-like organic gemstone found only along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of the United States and Canada. It is made of the fossilized shells of ammonites, which in turn are composed primarily of aragonite, the same organic mineral that makes up nacreous pearls. It is one of the three organic gemstones (excluding those used primarily as ornamental materials rather than discrete stones), the other two being amber and pearl. In 1981, ammolite was given official gemstone status by the CIBJO, the same year commercial mining of ammolite began. In 2004 it was designated the official gemstone of the Province of Alberta. Ammolite is also known as aapoak (Kainah for "small, crawling stone"), gem ammonite, calcentine, and korite. The latter is a trade name given to the gemstone by the Alberta-based mining company Korite International, the first and largest commercial producer of ammolite. (more...)

Recently featured: H.D. – Weight training – National parks of England and Wales

March 6

Buddhist art, defined as the figurative arts and decorative arts linked to the Buddhist religion, originated in the Indian subcontinent in the centuries following the life of the historical Gautama Buddha in the 6th to 5th century BCE, before evolving through its contact with other cultures and its diffusion through the rest of Asia and the world. A first, essentially Indian, aniconic phase (avoiding direct representations of the Buddha), was followed from around the 1st century CE by an iconic phase (with direct representations of the Buddha). From that time, Buddhist art diversified and evolved as it adapted to the new countries where the faith was expanding. It developed to the north through Central Asia and into Eastern Asia to form the Northern branch of Buddhist art, and to the east as far as South-East Asia to form the Southern Branch of Buddhist art. In India, the land of its birth, Buddhist art flourished and even influenced the development of Hindu art, until Buddhism almost disappeared around the 10th century with the expansion of Hinduism and Islam. (more...)

Recently featured: Ammolite – H.D. – Weight training

March 7

Statue of Anne Frank

Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who wrote a diary while in hiding with her family and four friends in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II. After two years in hiding, the group was betrayed and they were transported to concentration camps, where all but Anne's father Otto died. He returned to Amsterdam to find that Anne's diary had been saved. Convinced that the diary was a unique record, he took action to have it published. The diary was given to Anne for her thirteenth birthday and chronicles the events of her life from June 12, 1942 until its final entry of August 4, 1944. It was eventually translated from its original Dutch into many languages and became one of the world's most widely read books. Described as the work of a mature and insightful mind, it provides an intimate examination of daily life under Nazi occupation; through her writing, Anne Frank has become one of the most renowned and discussed of the Holocaust victims. (more...)

Recently featured: Buddhist art – Ammolite – H.D.

March 8

Chemical warfare is warfare using the toxic properties of chemical substances to kill, injure or incapacitate the enemy. Chemical warfare is distinct from the use of conventional weapons or nuclear weapons because the destructive effects of chemical weapons are not primarily due to any explosive force. The offensive use of living organisms or their toxic products (such as anthrax or botulin toxin) is not considered chemical warfare: their use is instead labelled biological warfare. Chemical weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction by the United Nations, and their production and stockpiling was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. (more...)

Recently featured: Anne Frank – Buddhist art – Ammolite

March 9

San José is a major city in the U.S. state of California and is the county seat of Santa Clara County. The city is located at the south end of the San Francisco Bay, within the informal boundaries of Silicon Valley, and is the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of 2003, it reported an estimated population of 925,000, making it the most populous city in Northern California and overtaking Detroit as the United States' tenth most populous city. San Jose, founded in 1777 as a farming community to provide food for nearby military installations, was the first town in the Spanish colony of California. It served as the first capital of California after statehood was granted in 1850. Aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s led first to San Jose being a bedroom community for Silicon Valley in the 1970s, then attracting businesses to the city; by 1990 the city was calling itself the Capital of Silicon Valley. (more...)

Recently featured: Chemical warfare – Anne Frank – Buddhist art

March 10

Comet Hale-Bopp was probably the most widely-observed comet of the last century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades. It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811. Hale-Bopp was discovered on July 23, 1995 at a very large distance from the sun, raising expectations that the comet could become very bright when it passed close to the sun. Although comet brightnesses are very difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy, Hale-Bopp met or exceeded most predictions for its brightness when it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997. The comet was dubbed the Great Comet of 1997. The passage of Hale-Bopp was notable also for inciting a degree of panic about comets not seen for decades. Rumours that the comet was being followed by an alien spacecraft gained remarkable currency, and inspired a mass suicide among followers of the Heaven's Gate cult. (more...)

Recently featured: San Jose – Chemical warfare – Anne Frank

March 11

The League of Nations was an international organization founded after the First World War at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The League's goals included disarmament; preventing war through collective security; settling disputes between countries through negotiation and diplomacy; and improving global welfare. The League was a government of governments, with the role of settling disputes between individual nations in an open and legalist forum. The League lacked an armed force of its own and so depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, which they were often very reluctant to do. The League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the fascist powers in 1930s. The onset of the Second World War made it clear that the League had failed in its primary purpose—to avoid any future world war. The United Nations effectively replaced it after World War II and inherited a number of agencies and organisations founded by the League. (more...)

Recently featured: Comet Hale-Bopp – San Jose – Chemical warfare

March 12

Charles II was the King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 30 January 1649 until his death. Charles II's father, Charles I, had been executed in 1649 following the English Civil War; the monarchy was then abolished and replaced with a military dictatorship under Oliver Cromwell, who had named himself "Lord Protector". In 1660, shortly after Cromwell's death, the monarchy was restored under Charles II. Unlike his father, Charles II was skilled at managing Parliament. It was during his reign that the Whig and Tory political parties developed. He famously fathered numerous illegitimate children, of whom he acknowledged fourteen. Known as the "Merry Monarch", Charles was a patron of the arts and less restrictive than many of his predecessors. By converting to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed, Charles II became the first Roman Catholic to reign over England since Mary I's death in 1558. (more...)

Recently featured: League of Nations – Comet Hale-Bopp – San Jose

March 13

Obverse side of a standard adult card

The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless smart card used in an electronic payment system in Hong Kong. Originally launched in September 1997 as a fare collection system for the city's mass transit systems, it has grown into a widely used electronic cash system for convenience stores, supermarkets, fast food restaurants, parking garages and other point-of-sale applications, as well as to control access in offices, schools and apartments. Using a card simply involves tapping it against an Octopus reader, and recharging can be done with cash at add-value machines, or via directly debiting credit cards and bank accounts. Octopus has become one of the world's most successful electronic cash systems, with over 12 million Octopus cards in circulation (nearly twice that of Hong Kong's population) and over eight million transactions per day, with nearly 300 service vendors. The operator of the Octopus system, Octopus Cards Limited, a joint venture between MTR Corporation and other transport companies in Hong Kong, has won a number of contracts to extend Octopus-style systems to the Netherlands and Changsha. (more...)

Recently featured: Charles II of England – League of Nations – Comet Hale-Bopp

March 14

Suzanne Lenglen was a French tennis player, who dominated the women's game from 1919 to 1926, winning 25 Grand Slam titles. A flamboyant player, she was the first female tennis celebrity, and one of the first international female sport stars, named La Divine (the divine one) by the French press. Prior to Lenglen, female tennis matches drew little fan interest but she quickly became her sport's greatest drawing card. Tennis devotees and new fans to the game began lining up in droves to buy tickets to her matches. Temperamental, flamboyant, she was a passionate player whose intensity on court could lead to an unabashed display of tears. But for all her flamboyance, she was a gifted and brilliant player who used extremely agile footwork, speed and a deadly accurate shot to dominate female tennis for seven straight years. Her excellent play and introduction of glamour to the tennis court increased the interest in women's tennis, and women's sport in general. (more...)

Recently featured: Octopus card – Charles II of England – League of Nations

March 15

Mordechai Vanunu, two days after his release from prison

Mordechai Vanunu is a former Israeli nuclear technician who publicly exposed Israel's possession of nuclear weapons. When Israel learned of this, he was abducted by Mossad (although upon release Vanunu claimed it was the CIA) from Italy and tried in secret. Convicted of treason, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison, more than 11 years of which were served in solitary confinement. Vanunu was released from prison on April 21, 2004, and is subject to a broad array of speech and travel restrictions. On November 11, 2004, following multiple alleged violations of those restrictions, he was arrested again after an interview by the media. (more...)

Recently featured: Suzanne Lenglen – Octopus card – Charles II of England

March 16

Cannabis rescheduling in the United States refers to the proposed removal of marijuana from Schedule I, the most tightly-restricted category of drugs, by the U.S. Congress or the Attorney General. Since the early 1970s, cannabis reform advocates and the Drug Enforcement Administration have been battling over whether to transfer marijuana to a different category that would allow medical use. Rescheduling proponents claim that cannabis is not addictive or harmful enough to meet the Controlled Substances Act's strict criteria for placement in Schedule I. The Government argues that marijuana does not meet its criteria for acceptable medical use, and that evidence of cannabis' widespread use is more relevant than animal studies in establishing the drug's abuse potential. The most recent rescheduling petition, filed by medical marijuana advocates in 2002, is likely to wind up in the U.S. Court of Appeals. (more...)

Recently featured: Mordechai Vanunu – Suzanne Lenglen – Octopus card

March 17

The geography of Ireland reflects its situation as an island in northwest Europe in the north Atlantic Ocean. The ocean is responsible for the rugged western coastline, along which are many islands, peninsulas and headlands. The main geographical feature of Ireland is low central plains surrounded by a ring of coastal mountains. There are a number of sizable lakes along Ireland's rivers, with Lough Neagh the largest in either Britain or Ireland. The island is bisected by the River Shannon, at 259 km (161 mi) with a 113 km (70 mi) estuary the longest river in either Britain or Ireland, which flows south from northwest County Cavan to meet the Atlantic just south of Limerick. The island of Ireland consists of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Located west of the island of Britain, it is approximately 53° north of the equator and 8° west of the Greenwich meridian. It has a total area of 84,116 km² (32,477 mi²). Ireland is separated from Britain by the Irish Sea and from mainland Europe by the Celtic Sea. (more...)

Recently featured: Cannabis rescheduling in the United States – Mordechai Vanunu – Suzanne Lenglen

March 18

Evolution is a change in the genetic makeup of a population within a species. Since the emergence of modern genetics in the 1940s, evolution has been defined more specifically as a change in the frequency of alleles from one generation to the next. The word "evolution" is often used as a shorthand for the modern theory of evolution of species based upon Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, which states that all modern species are the products of an extensive process that began over three billion years ago with simple single-celled organisms, and Gregor Mendel's theory of genetics. As the theory of evolution by natural selection and genetics has become universally accepted in the scientific community, it has replaced other explanations including creationism and Lamarckism. Skeptics, often creationists, sometimes deride evolution as "just a theory" in an attempt to characterize it as an arbitrary choice and degrade its claims to truth. Such criticism overlooks the scientifically-accepted use of the word "theory" to mean a falsifiable and well-supported hypothesis. (more...)

Recently featured: Geography of Ireland – Cannabis rescheduling in the United States – Mordechai Vanunu

March 19

John Dee was a noted British mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer and consultant to Elizabeth I. He also devoted much of his life to alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic. One of the most learned men of his time, he was lecturing to crowded halls at the University of Paris in his early twenties. He was an ardent promoter of mathematics, a respected astronomer and a leading expert in navigation, training many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery. At the same time, he immersed himself deeply in Christian angel-magic and Hermetic philosophy, and devoted the last third of his life almost exclusively to these pursuits. For Dee, as for many of his contemporaries, these activities were not contradictory, but aspects of a consistent world-view. (more...)

Recently featured: Evolution – Geography of Ireland – Cannabis rescheduling in the United States

March 20

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia with a population of over 13 million people, most of whom are Theravada Buddhists of Khmer origin. The country is bordered to the west by Thailand, to the north by Laos, to the east by Vietnam and to the south by the Gulf of Thailand. Its geography is dominated by the Mekong river and the Tonle Sap, a lake whose fish account for 60% of the nation's protein intake. The capital is Phnom Penh. There are three main political parties, of which the Cambodian People's Party is the current ruling party. From the 9th century to the 15th century Cambodia was the centre of the Khmer Empire, which for most of this period was based at Angkor. Angkor Wat, the empire's main temple, remains a symbol of the country and its greatest tourist attraction. Cambodia was a protectorate of France from 1863 until independence in 1953. During the 1970s and 1980s the country suffered from civil war and the Khmer Rouge autogenocide. Many people were killed or tortured, or fled abroad as refugees. In the 1990s, however, Cambodia has gained some stability and has begun rebuilding the infrastructure that was lost during those years. (more...)

Recently featured: John Dee – Evolution – Geography of Ireland

March 21

Isaac Asimov was a Russian-born American author and biochemist, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his science books for the lay person. Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation Series, which he later combined with two of his other series, the Galactic Empire Series and Robot series. He also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as a great amount of non-fiction. In fact, he wrote or edited over 500 volumes and an estimated 90,000 letters or postcards, and has works in every major category of the Dewey Decimal System except Philosophy. Asimov received HIV infected blood during heart bypass surgery in 1983. His death in 1992 was from AIDS-related complications, although this was kept secret by his widow for over a decade after his death. Asimov was a long-time member of Mensa, albeit reluctantly (he described them as "intellectually combative"). The asteroid 5020 Asimov is named in his honor, as is Honda's humanoid prototype robot ASIMO. (more...)

Recently featured: Cambodia – John Dee – Evolution

March 22

The current design of the Flag of South Africa was adopted on 27 April 1994 after the end of apartheid made it necessary to replace the former national flag due to its racist connotations to most South Africans. There was a public phase of the design of the new flag when submissions for the new design were sent in by the public, however none of the submissions received enthusiastic support from the committee charged with selecting the final design. With the inauguration of Nelson Mandela looming, an interim flag was designed and released to the public just seven days before Mandela was sworn into office. It was so well received that the interim version was made the final, national flag in the South African Constitution. The flag can best be described as two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side. The Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes. (more...)

Recently featured: Isaac Asimov – Cambodia – John Dee

March 23

The Pioneer Zephyr is a diesel-powered railroad trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The train, which featured extensive use of stainless steel, was originally named Zephyr and meant as a promotional tool to advertise passenger rail service in the United States. The train's construction included innovations such as shotwelding to join the stainless steel and articulation to reduce the train's weight. The trainset entered regular revenue service November 11 1934 between Kansas City, Missouri, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. It was operated on this route until its retirement in 1960 when it was donated to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry where it remains on public display. The train is generally regarded as the first successful streamliner on American railroads. (more...)

Recently featured: Flag of South Africa – Isaac Asimov – Cambodia

March 24

Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View

The known history of the Yosemite area started with Miwok and Paiute peoples who inhabited the central Sierra Nevada region of California that now includes Yosemite National Park. At the time the first non-indigenous people entered the area, a band of Miwok called the Ahwahnechee lived in Yosemite Valley. Conflict ensued in the mid 19th century and the Mariposa Battalion pursued the Ahwahnechee into the Valley. The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia were ceded to California as a state park in 1864. Naturalist John Muir and others soon became alarmed about over-exploitation of the area and helped push through the creation of Yosemite National Park, in 1890. It would not be until 1906 that the Valley and Grove would be added. Park jurisdiction was at first under the United States Army's Fourth Cavalry Regiment then in 1916 it was transferred to the National Park Service. The failed fight to save Hetch Hetchy Valley from becoming a reservoir and hydroelectric power plant in the early 20th century sparked a great deal of controversy that polarized the nation. Since then about 94% of the park has been set aside in a highly protected wilderness area. (more...)

Recently featured: Pioneer Zephyr – Flag of South Africa – Isaac Asimov

March 25

The military history of the Soviet Union began in the early days following the 1917 October Revolution and the creation of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, which joined with other former provinces of the Russian Empire to become the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. In the 1940s, the Soviet Union took part in World War II, assisting in the defeat of Nazi Germany and militarily occupied many former Axis nations in eastern Europe, which formed its satellite states in the Soviet bloc. Following the end of World War II, the Soviet Union became one of two superpowers, rivaling the United States. The Cold War between the two nations led to Soviet military buildups, the arms race, and the Space Race. By the early 1980s, the Soviet armed forces were the world's largest by every measure—in number of weapons, in manpower, and in size of their military-industrial base. In the end, the Soviet Union fell in 1991 due to economic and political factors rather than due to military defeat. (more...)

Recently featured: History of the Yosemite area – Pioneer Zephyr – Flag of South Africa

March 26

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that infects the mucus lining of the human stomach. Many peptic ulcers and some types of gastritis are caused by H. pylori infection, although most humans who are infected will never develop symptoms. The bacterium lives in the human stomach exclusively and is the only known organism that can thrive in that highly acidic environment. It is helix shaped (hence the name helicobacter) and can literally screw itself into the stomach lining to colonize it. In 1875, German scientists found the bacteria in the lining of the human stomach, although the results were forgotten. The bacterium was rediscovered in 1982 by two Australian scientists Robin Warren and Barry Marshall, who isolated and cultured organisms from mucosal specimens from human stomachs. In their original paper, Warren and Marshall contended that most stomach ulcers and gastritis were caused by colonization with this bacterium, not by stress or spicy food as had been assumed before. The medical community was slow to recognize the role of this bacterium in stomach ulcers and gastritis, but in 1994, the National Institutes of Health published an opinion stating that most recurrent gastric ulcers were caused by H. pylori, and recommended that antibiotics be included in the treatment regimen. (more...)

Recently featured: Military history of the Soviet Union – History of the Yosemite area – Pioneer Zephyr

March 27

Julia Stiles is an American stage and screen actress, hailed as "the thinking teenagers' movie goddess" by a New York Times critic. After beginning her theater career in small parts, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet; her film career has been both a commercial and critical success, ranging from teen romantic comedies such as 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) to dark art house pictures such as The Business of Strangers (2001). When Stiles isn't working she actively supports a variety of progressive and liberal issues. (more...)

Recently featured: Helicobacter pylori – Military history of the Soviet Union – History of the Yosemite area

March 28

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, named after the Roman goddess Venus. It is a terrestrial planet, very similar in size and bulk composition to Earth; it is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" as a result of this similarity. Although all planets' orbits are elliptical, Venus' orbit is the most nearly circular of all, with an eccentricity of less than 1%. Venus was known to ancient Babylonians around 1600 BC, and probably was known long before in prehistoric times given that it is the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon. Its symbol is a stylized representation of the goddess Venus' hand mirror: a circle with a small cross underneath (Unicode: ♀). (more...)

Recently featured: Julia Stiles – Helicobacter pylori – Military history of the Soviet Union

March 29

The Supremes were a very successful Motown all-girl singing group active from 1959 until 1977, performing at various times during its existence doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway showtunes, psychedelia, and disco. One of Motown's signature acts, The Supremes were the most successful black musical act of the 1960s, recording twelve #1 hits between 1964 and 1969, many of them written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland. The crossover success of the Supremes during the mid-1960s paved the way for future black soul and R&B acts to gain mainstream audiences both in the United States and overseas. Founding members Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown, all from the Brewster-Douglas public housing project in Detroit, were the sister act to The Primes (later The Temptations). In 1960, Barbara Martin replaced McGlown, and the group signed with Motown in 1961 as The Supremes. (more...)

Recently featured: Venus – Julia Stiles – Helicobacter pylori

March 30

George Fox was an English Dissenter and the founder of the Society of Friends. At Derby in 1650 Fox was imprisoned for blasphemy; a judge mocked Fox's exhortation to "tremble at the word of the Lord", calling him and his followers "Quakers" — now the common name of the Society of Friends. Living in a time of great social upheaval, he rebelled against the religious and political consensus by proposing an unusual and uncompromising approach to the Christian faith. His journal is a text popular even among non-Quakers for its vivid account of his personal journey. (more...)

Recently featured: The Supremes – Venus – Julia Stiles

March 31

A bicycle is a pedal-driven land vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame one in front of the other. First introduced in 19th century Europe, it evolved quickly into its current design. With over one billion in the world today, bicycles provide the principal means of transportation in many regions and a popular form of recreation in others. The bicycle has had considerable historical impact, in both the cultural and industrial realms. In its early years, bicycle construction drew on pre-existing technologies, while more recently bicycle technology has contributed in turn to other, newer areas. Beyond recreation and transportation, bicycles have been adapted for use in many occupations, in the military, and in sports and entertainment as well. A recurring theme in bicycling has been the tension between bicyclists and drivers of motor vehicles, each of whom argue for their fair share of the world's roadways.

Recently featured: George Fox – The Supremes – Venus