Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 August 20

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Thirty Flights of Loving is a first-person adventure video game developed by Brendon Chung's video game studio, Blendo Games. It was released in August 2012 for Microsoft Windows and in November 2012 for OS X. The game employs a modified version of id Software's id Tech 2 engine—originally used for Quake II—and incorporates music composed by Idle Thumbs member Chris Remo. An indirect sequel to Gravity Bone (2008), it features the same main character, an unnamed spy controlled by the player. The game follows the spy and two other people as they prepare for an alcohol heist and then deal with the aftermath of the failed operation. Unlike Gravity Bone, Thirty Flights of Loving employs non-linear storytelling, forcing the player to piece together the narrative. Thirty Flights of Loving was developed as part of the Kickstarter campaign for the revival of the Idle Thumbs podcast and includes a free copy of Gravity Bone. Thirty Flights of Loving received generally favorable reviews from video game journalists, scoring 88 out of 100 on the review aggregator Metacritic. A follow-up, Quadrilateral Cowboy, is scheduled for release in 2014. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the 6th Division Cavalry Regiment's use of tanks during the capture of Tobruk in 1941 was the first time that Australian forces operated tanks (pictured) in action?
... that Alice Pollock founded the boutique Quorum and the male modelling agency English Boy, both in London?
... that Steve Ormerod chairs Europe's largest wildlife conservation charity?
... that the Itcha Range in British Columbia is an inactive shield volcano formed between 3.8 and 0.8 million years ago?
... that L.A. Mix scored five more hits after being diagnosed by Stock Aitken Waterman as being "unlikely to have another hit"?
... that according to local tradition, the shrine of Muawiya in the town of Basma is named after a soldier in Saladin's army who was slain near the town?
... that the stoor worm, a sea monster of Orcadian mythology, could destroy humans with its putrid breath?

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In the news

Maryam Mirzakhani

The 41st Chess Olympiad concludes with China winning the open section and Russia winning the women's section of the tournament.
Mathematicians Artur Avila, Manjul Bhargava, Martin Hairer, and Maryam Mirzakhani are awarded the Fields Medal; Mirzakhani (pictured) is its first female recipient.
Actor and comedian Robin Williams dies at the age of 63.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wins Turkey's first direct presidential election.
Sepahan Airlines Flight 5915 crashes near Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 39 people.
Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan are found guilty of crimes against humanity by a UN-backed tribunal.

Ongoing: Ebola outbreak – Gaza conflict – Libyan conflict – Ukrainian unrest
Recent deaths: Lauren Bacall

On this day...

August 20: Day of Restoration of Independence in Estonia (1991); St. Stephen's Day in Hungary

1812 Overture

1710 – War of the Spanish Succession: The Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by the Marquis de Bay was soundly defeated by a multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg.
1882 – The 1812 Overture (audio featured) by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was first performed at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.
1944 – World War II: The Gestapo transported 168 Allied airmen, who had been classified as spies and criminals so as not to warrant prisoner of war treatment, to Buchenwald concentration camp.
1962 – NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, underwent her maiden voyage.
1989 – After a collision with a dredger on the River Thames in London, the pleasure boat Marchioness sank in just thirty seconds, killing 51 people.

More anniversaries: August 19 – August 20 – August 21

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Today's featured picture

Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901) was a politician who became the 23rd president of the United States. The grandson of former president William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison was a lawyer and soldier before becoming a U.S. senator from Indiana. After defeating the incumbent Grover Cleveland, in 1889 Harrison became president; during his four-year term he enacted such policies as the McKinley Tariff and the Sherman Antitrust Act.

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