WIKIPEDIA:MAIN PAGE HISTORY 2018 AUGUST 24

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From today's featured article

Phantasmagoria is a point-and-click adventure game designed by Roberta Williams for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. Released by Sierra On-Line on August 24, 1995, it tells the story of Adrienne Delaney (Victoria Morsell), a writer who moves into a remote mansion and finds herself terrorized by supernatural forces. Made at the peak of popularity for interactive movie games, Phantasmagoria features live-action footage. It was based on Williams's 550-page script, about four times the length of an average Hollywood screenplay, and cost $4.5 million to develop. Peter Maris directed a cast of 25 actors, all performing in front of a blue screen. The musical score includes neo- Gregorian chant performed by a 135-voice choir. Phantasmagoria became one of the best-selling games of 1995. It received mixed reviews, earning praise for its graphics and suspenseful tone, but criticism for its slow pacing and easy puzzles. The game drew controversy, particularly due to a rape scene. Some retailers declined to carry it, religious organizations and politicians condemned it, and it was refused classification altogether in Australia. ( Full article...)

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Did you know...

Hall at the Palais du Trocadéro in 1878

... that on 24 August 1878, Charles-Marie Widor premiered his Symphony for Organ No. 6 for the inauguration of the Cavaillé-Coll organ at the Palais du Trocadéro (pictured) as part of the Paris World Exhibition?
... that Hope not Hate released commemorative mugs and teatowels to mark the retirement of Brian Parker, the British National Party's last district councillor?
... that Seattle's Denny Way was originally named "Depot Street" in hopes of luring a major train station?
... that Magema Magwaza Fuze was the first native speaker to publish a book in the Zulu language?
... that the preferred food of the copepod Pseudocalanus newmani includes diatoms of the genus Thalassiosira, which can be toxic to its young?
... that basketball player Norvel Pelle holds citizenship in three countries— Antigua and Barbuda, Lebanon, and the United States?
... that at the end of the unsuccessful Siege of Almería, some of the defeated Aragonese attackers were left under the protection of the Muslim defenders while awaiting their evacuation?
... that the dermatologist Peter Copeman was known as "Dr Spot"?

In the news

N. K. Jemisin

N. K. Jemisin (pictured) wins the Hugo Award for Best Novel for a third consecutive time for The Stone Sky.
Former UN Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan dies at the age of 80.
The Asian Games open in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia.
Former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee dies at the age of 93.
American soul singer and songwriter Aretha Franklin dies at the age of 76.

On this day

August 24: Independence Day in Ukraine ( 1991)

Goodison Park

410 – Rome was sacked for the first time in approximately 800 years, by the Visigoths under Alaric I.
1812 – Peninsular War: Seeing that his army was in danger of being cut off, French commander Jean-de-Dieu Soult retreated from Cádiz, ending a 30-month siege.
1892 – Goodison Park (pictured in 2006) in Liverpool, England, one of the world's first purpose-built football grounds, opened.
1941 – Adolf Hitler ordered the suspension of the T4 euthanasia program of the mentally ill and disabled, although killings continued in secret for the remainder of the war.
1992 – Hurricane Andrew made landfall in South Florida, the third most intense Category 5 system to hit the United States during the 20th century.

Zhang Ye (d. 948) · Harry Hooper (b. 1887) · Jean-Michel Jarre (b. 1948)

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Akkadian cylinder seal depicting the deities Inanna, Utu, Enki, and Isimud

Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore melam, an ambiguous substance that "covered them in terrifying splendor". The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven, but that a god's statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself. The Mesopotamian pantheon evolved greatly over the course of its history. During the first of the four phases of the history of Mesopotamian religion, starting in the fourth millennium BC, deities' domain mainly focused on basic needs for human survival. During the second phase, which occurred in the third millennium BC, the divine hierarchy became more structured and deified kings began to enter the pantheon. During the third phase, in the second millennium BC, the gods worshipped by an individual person and gods associated with the commoners became more prevalent. During the fourth and final phase, in the first millennium BC, the gods became closely associated with specific human empires and rulers. ( Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Nembrotha cristata is a colourful species of sea slug. This nudibranch, a marine gastropod in the family Polyceridae, lives on rocks or coral reefs in the tropical Indo-West Pacific Ocean. This species of sea slug is black with green markings. Adults reach sizes of around 50 mm in length.

Photograph: Steve Childs

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