Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 November 7

Peter Capaldi

"From The Doctor to my son Thomas" is a viral video recorded by the Scottish actor Peter Capaldi (pictured) and sent to Thomas Goodall, an autistic nine-year-old who was grieving over the death of his grandmother. Thomas's father Ross posted the video to YouTube on 6 November 2014 so that his whole family could see it, but the video had wide appeal, and was viewed more than 200,000 times over the next 48 hours. Less than a week later it had over 900,000 views. In the video Capaldi portrays his character, the Twelfth Doctor, from the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who. His message had a positive effect on Thomas; the father said the boy smiled for the first time since learning of his grandmother's death, and gained the courage to go to her funeral. The video was praised as a deeply affecting piece in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Hollywood Life, and various Spanish and Dutch publications, and by CNN and MTV News. It also had a positive impact on many viewers who suffered from autism and other mental health problems. (Full article...)

Water bottle flipping

• ... that flipping water bottles (pictured) has been banned in some U.S. and British schools?
• ... that during the Second World War, Kenneth Le Couteur worked at Bletchley Park on Tunny?
• ... that the Suffolk University Political Research Center included mobile phones in its polls for the first time in 2012?
• ... that when queen consort ʻAnaseini Takipō failed to produce a male heir for King George Tupou II, his daughter Sālote Tupou III ascended to the throne of Tonga upon his death?
• ... that Luscombe Castle in Devon has an American Garden developed between 1812 and 1814?
• ... that Adrian Moss was named Indiana Mini Mr. Basketball when at high school?
• ... that Robert Forward invoked van Vogt's short story "Far Centaurus" when discussing the problem of interstellar travel?
• ... that Mary Chubb was an "accidental archaeologist" who only took a job with the Egypt Exploration Society so she could pay for art school?

Ben Zobrist

• In baseball, the Chicago Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians to win the World Series for the first time since 1908 (MVP Ben Zobrist pictured).
• In baseball, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters defeat the Hiroshima Toyo Carp to win the Japan Series.
• Yazidi human rights activists Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar win the Sakharov Prize.
• More than 60 people are killed in an attack on a police training centre in Quetta, Pakistan.
• At least 70 people are killed and around 600 others injured in a train derailment in Cameroon.

November 7: October Revolution Day in Belarus and various other regions of the former Soviet Union

Last Spike ceremony for the Canadian Pacific Railway

• 1665 – The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English-language newspaper, was first published as the Oxford Gazette.
• 1885 – Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first transcontinental railroad across Canada, concluded with the driving of the "last spike" (pictured) in Craigellachie, British Columbia.
• 1916 – In the Congressional election, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives.
• 1941 – World War II: German aircraft sank the Soviet hospital ship Armenia while she was evacuating civilians and wounded soldiers from Crimea, killing an estimated 5,000 people.
• 1991 – Professional basketball player Magic Johnson announced his retirement from the game because of his infection with HIV.

Building of National Assembly of Pakistan

The 14th Parliament of Pakistan is the legislature of Pakistan following the 2013 general election of members of parliament (MPs) to the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura. The National Assembly is a democratically elected body consisting of 342 members, who are referred to as Members of the National Assembly (MNAs), of which 272 are directly elected members; 70 reserved seats for women and religious minorities are allocated to the political parties according to their proportion of the total vote. The election saw each of Parliament's 272 constituencies return one MP to the National Assembly. It resulted in a Pakistan Muslim League (N) majority, and a massive loss of seats for the Pakistan Peoples Party. Pakistan Muslim League (N) became the single largest party, though without an overall majority. The Pakistan Muslim League (N) won 188 seats in the National Assembly through a simple majority. (Full list...)