Today's featured article
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 The Monadnock Building is a skyscraper in the south Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The north half of the building was built in 1891, and its decorative staircases were the first use of aluminum in building construction. The south half (pictured), constructed in 1893, is similar in color and profile to the original, but the design is more traditionally ornate. When completed, it was the largest office building in the world. The building was remodeled in 1938 in one of the first major skyscraper renovations. It was sold in 1979 and restored to its original condition. The north half is an unornamented vertical mass of purple-brown brick, flaring gently out at the base and top. The south half is vertically divided by brickwork at the base and rises to a large copper cornice at the roof. Projecting window bays in both halves allow large exposures of glass, giving the building an open appearance despite its mass. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Modern critics have called it a "triumph of unified design" and "one of the most exciting aesthetic experiences America's commercial architecture has produced". (more...)
Recently featured: Nancy Drew – Armillaria luteobubalina – Rhyolite, Nevada
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Did you know...
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From Wikipedia's newest content:
- ... that Madrid's Palacio de Velázquez (tiled palace arch pictured) by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco was built for the 1883 Exposición Nacional de Minería, with tiles by Daniel Zuloaga?
- ... that the landlady's wig can be confused with the similar red alga Cordylecladia erecta, both of which grow on sand-covered rocks?
- ... that Neill Brown resigned as U.S. Minister to Russia during his first winter in the country, saying the climate was "unfitting for the abodes of Man", but withdrew his resignation in the spring?
- ... that the Zelter-Plakette has been awarded annually by the President of Germany since 1956 to German and foreign choirs which have served cultural life continuously for 100 years or more?
- ... that three-time wheelchair basketball Paralympian Helen Turner has won four European Championship bronze medals?
- ... that Stephen Elop, the CEO of Nokia, was once told that the Wilhelm Carpelan, the small green vessel moored in front of the company's head office in Finland, was a "Motorola spy ship"?
- ... that the Laymoor Quag nature reserve in Gloucestershire, England, is a refuge for the Great Crested Newt?
- ... that Norwegian football club Kristiansund BK was founded in 2003 by local rivals Clausenengen FK and Kristiansund FK?
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In the news
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On this day...
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Today's featured list
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The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates is a list of highly endangered primate species selected and published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group, the International Primatological Society, and Conservation International. The countries with the most species on the list are Madagascar and Vietnam with five species each, and Indonesia with four species. The list has been published five times, with seven species appearing on all five lists: the silky sifaka (pictured), Delacour's langur, golden-headed langur, grey-shanked douc, Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, Cross River gorilla, and Sumatran orangutan. The two greatest threats that primates face are habitat loss and hunting. More specifically, threats listed in the report include deforestation, forest fragmentation, small population sizes, live capture for the exotic pet trade, and hunting for bushmeat and traditional medicine. (more...)
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Today's featured picture
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The moon jelly (Aurelia aurita) is a widely studied species of jellyfish found throughout most of the world's oceans. It is translucent, usually about 25–40 cm (10–16 in) in diameter, and can be recognized by its four horseshoe-shaped gonads, easily seen through the bell. It is capable of only limited motion, and drifts with the current, even when swimming.
Photo: Dante Alighieri
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