Main Page

Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. 4,081,354 articles in English

Arts Biography Geography

History Mathematics Science

Society Technology All portals

Today's featured article Ian Fleming (1908–1964) was an English author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer, best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. While working in British Naval Intelligence during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in the planning stages of intelligence and military operations, and his wartime service and subsequent career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels. Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952. It was a success, and eleven Bond novels and two short-story collections followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels revolved around James Bond, an officer in the British Secret Service. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies. Fleming's creation has appeared in film twenty-four times, portrayed by seven actors, and the latest screen incarnation, Skyfall, is due to premiere in London on 23 October 2012. (more...) Recently featured: Nixon in China – Introduction to viruses – Andjar Asmara Did you know... From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Prince Henry the Navigator handed over his brother Ferdinand the Holy Prince (pictured) as a hostage, and preferred to let him die in captivity rather than fulfill the treaty he had signed? ... that Adele's theme for the James Bond film Skyfall went to number one in the UK's iTunes online store less than ten hours after it was released? ... that the Church of Julianos in the village of Barad in northern Syria, was one of two three-aisled basilicas in the Dead Cities? ... that the nudibranch Tritonia hamnerorum feeds exclusively on the purple sea fan? ... that in Armenia, wrestling is one of the nation's oldest sports? ... that Chao Mae Tuptim in Bangkok is a site crammed full of wooden circumcised penis statues which are said to endow good fortune and fertility on anybody coming into contact with them?

In the news The Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for cycling, strips Lance Armstrong (pictured) of his seven Tour de France wins. Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, marries Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy. Lebanese intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan is assassinated in a car bomb attack in Beirut that kills eight people and injures more than 100 others. The discovery of an Earth-sized planet in Alpha Centauri, the star system closest to Earth, is announced. Recent deaths: Yash Chopra – George McGovern – more... On this day... October 23: Mole Day 502 – Pope Symmachus (pictured), who had been accused of various crimes, had all charges dropped by a synod, ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius. 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces began their ill-fated attempt to recapture Henderson Field from the Americans. 1972 – Vietnam War: Operation Linebacker, a US bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to its Easter Offensive, ended after five months. 1989 – A massive explosion and fire ripped through the Phillips 66 Houston Chemical Complex, killing 23 employees and injuring 314 others. 2002 – Chechen separatists seized a crowded theater in Moscow, taking approximately 700 patrons and performers hostage. More anniversaries: October 22 – October 23 – October 24 It is now October 23, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture A view of the internal components of a 1998 Seagate hard disk drive (HDD). An HDD is a data storage device used for storing and retrieving digital information. It consists of one or more rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating disks coated with magnetic material, with magnetic heads arranged on a moving actuator arm that read from and write to the disk surfaces. Photo: Eric Gaba Recently featured: Azure Damselfly – Red rock crab – Upper Belvedere, Vienna

Other areas of Wikipedia

• Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
• Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
• Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
• Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
• Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
• Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects:

	Commons Free media repository		Wikinews Free-content news		Wikispecies Directory of species
	Meta-Wiki Wikimedia project coordination		Wikiquote Collection of quotations		Wikiversity Free learning materials and activities
	Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals		Wikisource Free-content library		Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus

Wikipedia languages

This Wikipedia is written in English. Started in 2001 (2001), it currently contains 4,081,354 articles. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.

• More than 750,000 articles: Deutsch · español · français · italiano · Nederlands · 日本語 · polski · português · русский
• More than 150,000 articles: العربية · Bahasa Indonesia · català · česky · dansk · Esperanto · فارسی · 한국어 · lietuvių · magyar · norsk (bokmål)‎ · română · slovenčina · српски / srpski · suomi · svenska · Tiếng Việt · Türkçe · українська · 中文
• More than 50,000 articles: Bahasa Melayu · български · eesti · Ελληνικά · English (simple) · euskara · galego · עברית · hrvatski · norsk (nynorsk)‎ · slovenščina · srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски · ไทย

Complete list of Wikipedias