Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 August 13

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From today's featured article

New York State Route 22 is a north–south state highway in eastern New York in the United States. It runs parallel to the state's eastern edge from the outskirts of New York City to the hamlet of Mooers in Clinton County. At 337 miles (542 km), it is the state's longest north–south route. The southernmost section of the road connected New York City to White Plains in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Route 22 in its modern form was established in 1930 as one of the principal routes from New York City to Canada. It is a two-lane road passing through small villages and hamlets, as well as the city of Plattsburgh in the north, lower Westchester County, and the heavily populated borough of The Bronx. The rural landscapes include picturesque reservoirs of the New York City watershed, dairy farms in the Taconic Mountains and the Berkshires, and the undeveloped, heavily forested Adirondack Park along the shores of Lake Champlain. An 86-mile (138 km) section from Fort Ann to Keeseville is part of the Lakes to Locks Passage, an All-American Road. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

The Rhinemaidens in 1876

... that Marie Lehmann, one of the Rhinemaidens (pictured) at the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, sang the soprano solo in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the groundbreaking of the Bayreuth Festival Theatre?
... that Robert Lebel was inducted in the inaugural class of three ice hockey halls of fame?
... that the Wirral Model Engineering Society operates a raised railway track for fine scale models of full-size steam locomotives at Royden Park?
... that when King Kamehameha III died in 1854, the throne of Hawaii passed to his nephew Kamehameha IV instead of his son Albert Kūnuiākea?
... that Gheorghe A. Lăzăreanu-Lăzurică, a self-proclaimed "Voivode of the Gypsies", supported Romania's far-right groups, beginning with the National Agrarian Party?
... that Old North, built between 1794 and 1797, is the oldest standing academic building on Georgetown University's campus?
... that Badr Shirvani, a Persian poet from Shirvan in the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, received patronage from numerous rulers?
... that the plot of the 1994 comic book Archie Meets the Punisher was modeled after the 1948 film Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein?

In the news

Artist's impression of the Parker Solar Probe

NASA launches the Parker Solar Probe (artist's impression pictured) to study the outer corona of the Sun.
In the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, Saudi armed forces bomb a school bus in Dahyan, killing at least 50 people, including 29 children.
Amado Boudou, former vice president of Argentina, is sentenced to almost six years in prison for corruption.
Saudi Arabia expels the Canadian ambassador after receiving criticism of its treatment of rights activists.
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Lombok, Indonesia, killing more than 380 people after its 6.4 magnitude foreshock killed at least 20 others a week prior.

On this day

August 13:

Opha May Johnson

554 – As a reward for over 60 years of service to the Byzantine Empire, Emperor Justinian I granted Liberius extensive estates in Italy.
1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: The Duke of Marlborough led Allied forces to a crucial victory in the Battle of Blenheim.
1868 – A major earthquake near Arica, Peru (now in Chile), caused an estimated 25,000 casualties, and the subsequent tsunami caused considerable damage as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand.
1918 – Opha May Johnson (pictured) became the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.
1977 – Members of the UK's far-right National Front party (NF) clashed with anti-NF demonstrators in Lewisham, London, resulting in 214 arrests and at least 111 injuries.

Al-Muktafi (d. 908) · George Grove (b. 1820) · Jules Massenet (d. 1912)

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From today's featured list

Bradley Beal

The Mr. Show-Me Basketball honor recognizes the top male high school basketball player in the state of Missouri. The name of the award differs from other Mr. Basketball awards to reflect Missouri's state nickname, the Show-Me State. The award is presented annually by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association. In order to be considered for the award, nominees must have been nominated by their high school coach, started in 90 percent of all games, must be high school seniors, and must be of "outstanding moral character". The first recipient of the honor was Monroe Douglas in 1985, who is the fourth all-time leading scorer for the Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team in total points with 1,877 points and was named to their all-century team. Two sets of brothers, JarRon and Kareem Rush along with Tyler and Ben Hansbrough, have received the honor. Nine recipients of the Mr. Show-Me Basketball honor have been drafted into the NBA, the highest draft picks being both Bradley Beal (pictured) in the 2012 NBA draft and Jayson Tatum in the 2017 NBA draft with the third overall pick. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus is an oil painting on canvas completed by Peter Paul Rubens in 1618 and presently in the collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Germany. It depicts a Greek myth in which the mortal Castor and the immortal Pollux abduct Phoebe and Hilaeira, daughters of Leucippus. In the myth, the sisters' fiancés, Idas and Lynceus, track the kidnappers, slaying Castor before falling in battle.

Painting: Peter Paul Rubens

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