Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 August 1

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From today's featured article

Flight Unlimited II is a 1997 flight simulator video game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. The player controls one of five planes in the airspace of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is shared with up to 600 artificially intelligent aircraft directed by real-time air traffic control. The game eschews the aerobatics focus of its predecessor, Flight Unlimited, in favor of general civilian aviation. The team developed new physics code and an engine, seeking to create an immersive world for the player and to compete with the Microsoft Flight Simulator series. Commercially, Flight Unlimited II performed well enough to recoup its development costs. Critics lauded the game's graphics and simulated airspace, and several praised its physics. However, some considered the game to be inferior to Microsoft Flight Simulator '98. Following the completion of Flight Unlimited II, its team split up to develop Flight Unlimited III (1999) and Flight Combat (later Jane's Attack Squadron) simultaneously. Both projects were troubled, and they contributed to the closure of Looking Glass in May 2000. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that Chlemoutsi castle (pictured) from the early 1220s is perhaps the finest example of a fortification of the early period of Frankish rule in Greece?
... that posters for a presentation by Secular Pro-Life at the University of Georgia were repeatedly torn down in protest?
... that in 1943, Wilhelm Münter Rolfsen led Milorg's refugee escort network in Norway?
... that Cheshire's Norcliffe Chapel was founded by a Unitarian, but was a Baptist chapel for its first ten years?
... that Bong Revilla's speech Salamat, Kaibigan was met with "amusement, anger and disbelief" among netizens?
... that Fittja gård became a popular overnight inn and station for exchange of horses for Swedish kings?
... that Infamous Second Son players can either climb high-rise buildings or dash up them using neon superpowers?

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In the news

The 45th Pacific Islands Forum opens in Koror, Palau, with climate change as the main topic.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration orders Russia to repay US$50 billion to shareholders of the Yukos Oil Company for breaching the Energy Charter Treaty.
Fuad Masum is elected President of Iraq by the Iraqi parliament.
The Séléka and anti-balaka militias agree to a ceasefire in the Central African Republic civil war.
Air Algérie Flight 5017 (aircraft pictured), en route from Ouagadougou to Algiers, crashes in Mali, killing all 116 people on board.

Ongoing: Commonwealth Games – Gaza conflict – Ebola outbreak – Ukrainian unrest

Recent deaths

On this day...

August 1: Lughnasadh (Northern Hemisphere); Imbolc (Southern Hemisphere); Independence Day in Benin (1960); Lammas in England and Scotland

902 – Led by Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya, the Aghlabids captured the Byzantine stronghold of Taormina, concluding the Muslim conquest of Sicily.
1774 – British scientist Joseph Priestley liberated oxygen gas, corroborating the discovery of this element by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
1834 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 came into force, officially abolishing slavery in most of the British Empire.
1984 – Commercial peat-cutters discovered the preserved bog body of a man, called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss, Cheshire, North West England.
2007 – Bridge 9340, carrying Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, suffered a catastrophic failure and collapsed (pictured), killing 13 people and injuring 145.

More anniversaries: July 31 – August 1 – August 2

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It is now August 1, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

From today's featured list

Kevin Feige, at bust length and wearing a black jacket and baseball cap, speaks into a microphone

There are presently ten films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), an American series of superhero films that has been in production since 2007. Produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics, the series has collectively grossed over $6.3 billion at the global box office, making it the second highest-grossing film franchise, behind Harry Potter. Kevin Feige (pictured) has served as a producer for every MCU film, beginning with 2008's Iron Man and continuing through the series' most recent release, Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. The films are written and directed by a variety of individuals and feature large, often ensemble, casts. Many of the actors, including Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson, signed contracts to star in numerous films. Five more films have been announced, including Avengers: Age of Ultron, the next film scheduled for release, with release dates for a further six films announced through 2019. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Portrait of a Young Girl is a small oil painting on oak panel completed between 1465 and 1470 by Petrus Christus. Unlike in prior Early Netherlandish paintings, the sitter is placed in an airy, three-dimensional, realistic setting. This portrait, described by art historian Joel Upton as "a polished pearl, almost opalescent, lying on a cushion of black velvet", was influential in the decades after its completion.

Painting: Petrus Christus

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