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Today's featured article Californication is the seventh studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on June 8, 1999, on Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Rick Rubin, Californication saw the return of John Frusciante, who had previously appeared on Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, to replace Dave Navarro as the band's guitarist. Frusciante's return was credited with changing the band's sound. The record marked a shift in style from the Navarro era. The album's lyrics incorporate various sexual innuendos often associated with the band, but it contains more varied themes than previous releases, such as lust, death, suicide, California, drugs, globalization and travel. The Chili Peppers' most commercially successful studio release, Californication has sold over 16 million copies worldwide. The record produced several hits for the band, including "Otherside", "Californication" and the Grammy Award-winning "Scar Tissue". Californication peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200. (more...) Recently featured: Norwich Market – Maple syrup – Xá Lợi Pagoda raids Did you know... From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the coloration of the veins on flower petals of the wood shamrock (pictured) is intensified at lower elevations? ... that South Africa were coached by former New Zealand international Paul Matete at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup? ... that Wyoming's Secretary of State Max Maxfield won an award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Web Development' from WebAwards in 2009? ... that Tadeusz Wrona, who safely landed LOT Flight 16 from New York to Warsaw after the landing gear failed to deploy, was awarded one of Poland's most prestigious awards? ... that the Supreme Court of South Ossetia annulled the 2011 presidential election and barred its winner from running again? ... that although award-winning Indonesian director Hanung Bramantyo is "intrigued" with the left, his most successful films have been to the right?

In the news Allegations of flaws in Russia's legislative elections trigger the country's largest protests (pictured) since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Iran files a formal complaint to the UN Security Council regarding a U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel aircraft seized within its territory. Positive Slovenia, led by Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković, wins a narrow plurality in the Slovenian parliamentary election. After 541 days of negotiations, a new Belgian government is sworn in, with Elio Di Rupo as prime minister. The International Court of Justice rules that Greece breached its existing accords with Macedonia by blocking its entry to NATO in 2008. On this day... December 11: Republic Day in Burkina Faso (1958) 1789 – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the oldest public universities in the United States and the only one to award degrees in the 18th century, received its charter. 1886 – The London-based football club Arsenal, then known as Dial Square, played their first match on the Isle of Dogs. 1962 – Convicted murderers Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas were the last two persons to be executed in Canada. 2005 – A demonstration by Australians in Cronulla, New South Wales, against recent violence towards locals turned into a race riot. 2006 – The first action in the Mexican Drug War took place as President Felipe Calderón (pictured) ordered Mexican military and Federal Police units into the state of Michoacán. More anniversaries: December 10 – December 11 – December 12 It is now December 11, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture Anscombe's quartet is a group of four data sets that have identical simple statistical properties, yet appear very different when graphed. They were constructed in 1973 by the statistician Francis Anscombe to demonstrate both the importance of graphing data before analysing it and the effect of outliers on statistical properties. Image: Schutz Recently featured: American Bird Grasshopper – Weightless water bubble – White-headed dwarf gecko with missing tail

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