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Historical events on this day

On this day: July 28

    July 28

    Surface weather analysis map More anniversaries:

    On this day: July 29

      July 29

      Combined coat of arms of Charles and Diana More anniversaries:

      On this day: July 30

        July 30

        Emmerson Mnangagwa More anniversaries:

        On this day: July 31

          July 31: Lā Hae Hawaiʻi (Flag Day) and Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day) in Hawaii (1843)

          Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette More anniversaries:

          On this day: August 1

            August 1: Lughnasadh in the Northern Hemisphere; Buwan ng Wika begins in the Philippines; PLA Day in China (1927)

            Cars on the I-35W bridge after the collapse More anniversaries:

            On this day: August 2

              August 2: Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

              Drawing of the interior of the Tower Subway More anniversaries:

              On this day: August 3

                August 3: Tisha B'Av (Judaism, 2025)

                Boeing 707 involved in the Agadir Royal Air Maroc crash More anniversaries:

                On this day: August 4

                  August 4

                  MTS Oceanos in 1986 More anniversaries:

                  On this day: August 5

                    August 5: Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day in Croatia (1995)

                    Animas River after the Gold King Mine waste water spill More anniversaries:

                    On this day: August 6

                      August 6

                      Mushroom cloud over Hiroshima after the Little Boy explosion More anniversaries:

                      Some of the finest images on Wikipedia

                      Wikipedia picture of the day for July 28

                        The grey-headed kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala) is a species of bird in the kingfisher family, Alcedinidae. It is found across large parts of Africa and southern Arabia – from Mauritania through Senegal and the Gambia, east to Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, Oman and Saudia Arabia, and south through to South Africa. It is also found in islands off the African coast such as the Cape Verde islands and Zanzibar. The grey-headed kingfisher is around 21 centimetres (8.3 inches) in length, with the two sexes being similar in size and appearance. The adult of the nominate subspecies H. l. leucocephala has a pale grey head, black mantle and back, bright blue rump, wings and tail, and chestnut underparts. The beak is long, red and sharp. Its song features a succession of notes, ascending, descending and then ascending again, becoming increasingly strident, while the warning call is a series of sharp notes. The bird's habitat constists of scrub and woodland and it moves either solitary or in pairs, often near water; however, unlike most kingfishers it is not aquatic. It nests in holes in steep riverbanks and is aggressively protective of its nest by repeated dive-bombing of foraging monitor lizards. This grey-headed kingfisher perching on a twig was photographed in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.

                        Photograph credit: Giles Laurent

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                        Wikipedia picture of the day for July 29

                          Clara Bow (July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance in the 1927 film It brought her global fame and the nickname "It girl". Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and has been described as its leading sex symbol. She appeared in 46 silent films and 11 talkies, including hits such as Mantrap (1926), It (1927), and Wings (1927). She was named first box-office draw in 1928 and 1929, and second box-office draw in 1927 and 1930. Two years after marrying the actor Rex Bell in 1931, Bow retired from acting and became a rancher in Nevada. Her final film, Hoop-La, was released in 1933. This studio photograph of Bow was taken in 1932.

                          Photograph credit: Harold Dean Carsey; restored by Yann Forget

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                          Wikipedia picture of the day for July 30

                            A Peculiar Family is an 1865 comedy musical play by the English writer William Brough featuring music by Thomas German Reed. The play starred German Reed, his wife Priscilla, and John Parry. It premiered in 1865 at the German Reeds' London theatre, the Royal Gallery of Illustration, and is part of a multi-decade series known as the German Reed Entertainments. The play is set in a French coastal hotel and features the eponymous family: Barnaby Bounce, his sister, Cherry, two of his nephews and a grandfather, along with a German detective named Herr Von Doppelslich, the French landlady and a countess. The story involves a mix-up over a white hat worn by Barnaby and the hat's owner, who is being pursued by Von Doppelslich. This poster for A Peculiar Family was designed by Robert Jacob Hamerton.

                            Poster credit: Robert Jacob Hamerton; restored by Adam Cuerden

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                            Wikipedia picture of the day for July 31

                              Dendrelaphis punctulatus, also known as the Australian tree snake or the common tree snake, is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to many parts of Australia, especially in the northern and eastern coastal areas, and to Papua New Guinea. It is found at altitudes from sea level to 500 metres (1,600 feet), in a variety of habitats including bushland, river banks, forests and rainforest edges, heathland and grassy areas, especially near water. It is an agile snake, with a very slender body and tail, and is also a strong swimmer, using the water for hunting and avoiding predation. Its ventral body colour varies from golden yellow, bright green or olive-green to black or sometimes even blue, while its back is typically dark in colour. In a study, D. punctulatus snakes had an average snout–vent length of 101 centimetres (40 inches), with males slightly shorter at 93 centimetres (37 inches). This D. punctulatus snake was photographed by the Daintree River, near Daintree in rural northern Queensland, Australia.

                              Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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                              Wikipedia picture of the day for August 1

                                A field ration is a type of prepackaged military ration designed to be easily and quickly prepared and consumed on the battlefield, in combat, at the front line, or where eating facilities are otherwise unavailable. Field rations are primarily used by military forces, though they are also sometimes distributed to civilians as part of humanitarian aid and emergency management. They consist principally of dried and nonperishable foods, including among others preserved and nonperishable precooked meat, vegetables, grains and rice, dehydrated soup, side dishes, desserts and drinks. They took their modern form from the 19th century onwards, with the invention of airtight food preservation, canned food, and pasteurization. Field rations are designed with a long shelf life and can be eaten at any temperature, but they are heated or cooked where possible. This photograph shows the arranged contents of an Einmannpackung Typ 1 field ration issued to the German Bundeswehr in 1974, on display at the Museum of Hamburg History in Hamburg, Germany. It includes, from left to right and top to bottom: an instant-rice ready meal, scrambled eggs with ham and spaghetti, hardtack, a condiment, semi-sweet chocolate, and coffee creamer; liverwurst, strawberry jam, melted cheese, four water-purification tablets, and salt; tea-extract powder, a damp towel, coffee extract, orange drink powder, a matchbook, refined sugar, and spearmint chewing gum.

                                Photograph credit: Medvedev

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                                Wikipedia picture of the day for August 2

                                  Lamium purpureum, commonly known as the red dead-nettle, among other names, is an annual herbaceous flowering plant. Native to Eurasia, it can also be found in North America, and frequently occurs in meadows, forest edges, roadsides and gardens. It grows with square stems to a height of 5 to 20 centimetres (2 to 8 inches), and occasionally up to 40 centimetres (16 inches). The leaves have fine hairs, are green at the bottom and shade to purplish at the top, while the zygomorphic flowers are bright reddish purple. The pollen is crimson red in colour and thus very noticeable on the heads of the bees that visit its flowers. The plant contains various oils and is characterized by its high contents of germacrene D. Young plants have edible tops and leaves, which are used in salads and stir fries as a spring vegetable. The plant has also been used for many years in folk medicine and herbal remedies. This L. purpureum inflorescence was photographed in Tutermaa, Estonia. The picture was focus-stacked from 101 separate images.

                                  Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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                                  Wikipedia picture of the day for August 3

                                    The Indochinese green magpie (Cissa hypoleuca) is a small colorful bird native to the forests of China and southern Asia, through to Vietnam. It is nonmigratory and is found at altitudes up to 1,500 metres (4,900 feet), preferring moist forests and tree canopies within the tropical and subtropical regions, where its plumage provides camouflage. The Indochinese green magpie is approximately 35 centimetres (14 inches) in length, with a green upper body and an underbelly either yellow or green in colour. It features a black band that goes from its bill over the crimson eyes to the back of its head. It is a songbird, with vocalisations including noisy chattering, rasping notes, screeches, and a ringing whistle. This Indochinese green magpie of the subspecies C. h. hypoleuca was photographed in Đà Lạt, Vietnam.

                                    Photograph credit: JJ Harrison

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                                    Wikipedia picture of the day for August 4

                                      The Cheat is a 1923 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is a remake of Cecil B. DeMille's 1915 film The Cheat, using the same script by Hector Turnbull and Jeanie MacPherson. The remake stars Pola Negri and was directed by George Fitzmaurice, and tells the story of Carmelita De Cordoba, a beautiful young South American woman who has been betrothed by her stern father to Don Pablo, whom she despises, and then meets and falls in love with Dudley Drake, a New York City broker. With no known prints of The Cheat remaining, it is considered a lost film, although there is an extant version in novel form, written in the same year as the film by Russell Holman, a Paramount Pictures employee. This color lithograph poster was produced in 1923 by Paramount to promote The Cheat, and depicts Negri as Carmelita with Charles de Rochefort as Claude Mace, an art swindler masquerading as the East Indian prince Rao-Singh.

                                      Poster credit: Paramount Pictures; restored by Ezarate

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                                      Wikipedia picture of the day for August 5

                                        Carmen Miranda (9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress. Nicknamed "the Brazilian Bombshell", she was known for her signature fruit hat outfit that she wore in her American films. Despite being stereotyped, Miranda's performances popularized Brazilian music and increased public awareness of Latin culture. In 1941, Miranda was the first Latin American star to be invited to leave her hand and footprints in the courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and was the first South American honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She died in Beverly Hills, California, and is buried at the Cemitério de São João Batista in Rio de Janeiro. This photograph depicts Miranda in a scene from the 1941 film Week-End in Havana.

                                        Photograph credit: 20th Century Fox; restored by Adam Cuerden

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                                        Wikipedia picture of the day for August 6

                                          Nader Shah Afshar (6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran from 1736 to 1747, when he was assassinated during a rebellion. He fought numerous campaigns throughout the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and South Asia, emerging victorious from the battles of Herat, Mihmandust, Murche-Khort, Kirkuk, Yeghevārd, Khyber Pass, Karnal, and Kars. He has been described as "the last great Asiatic military conqueror", and his victories during his campaigns briefly made him West Asia's most powerful sovereign, ruling over what was arguably the most powerful empire in the world. Nader also changed the Iranian coinage system, minting silver coins, called Naderi, that were equal to the Mughal rupee. This silver coin was minted in Dagestan and is dated 1741–1742.

                                          Coin design credit: unknown; photographed by American Numismatic Society

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                                          Best articles Wikipedia has to offer

                                          July 28 Wikipedia featured article

                                            Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist. Born to a Quaker family, he published his first scientific paper at age 19. He made regular trips to the American West, prospecting in the 1870s and 1880s. A feud between Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh led to an intense fossil-finding competition called the Bone Wars. Cope's financial fortunes soured after failed mining ventures in the 1880s, forcing him to sell much of his fossil collection. His contributions helped to define the field of American paleontology and he wrote more than 1,400 published papers, although rivals debated the accuracy of his rapidly published works. He discovered, described, and named more than 1,000 vertebrate species, including hundreds of fishes and dozens of dinosaurs. His proposal for the origin of mammalian molars is notable among his theoretical contributions. (Full article...)

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                                            July 29 Wikipedia featured article

                                              Gaetano Bresci (1869–1901) was an Italian anarchist who assassinated King Umberto I of Italy. He became an anarchist after experiencing exploitation in the workplace and later emigrated to the United States, where he joined the Italian immigrant anarchist movement in Paterson, New Jersey. News of the Bava Beccaris massacre motivated him to return to Italy to assassinate Umberto. Bresci killed the king on 29 July 1900, during Umberto's scheduled appearance in Monza, amid a sparse police presence. The government of Italy suspected that Bresci had been a part of a conspiracy but no evidence was found to indicate that others were involved. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and confined on Santo Stefano Island, where he was found dead of an apparent suicide the following year. After his death, Bresci became a martyr for the Italian left-wing. He inspired the American anarchist Leon Czolgosz to assassinate United States president William McKinley. (Full article...)

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                                              July 30 Wikipedia featured article

                                                Ensemble from Scanners

                                                Scanners (Autumn/Winter 2003) was the twenty-second collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. The collection is based on the idea of exiles travelling eastward through northern Eurasia: Siberia, Tibet and finally Japan. The designs borrow heavily from the traditional clothing and art of those areas, and reflect an overall aesthetic of luxury, with voluminous silhouettes and rich materials. Cultural motifs include heavy embroidery, traditional patterns and kimono-like shapes. The runway show was staged at the Grande halle de la Villette in Paris. The set was made to look like a desolate tundra with rocks and snow. A clear plastic wind tunnel was suspended over the runway for some models to walk through. Fifty-nine looks were presented in roughly three stages, representing the journey through each of Siberia, Tibet and Japan. Critical reception was mostly positive and sales were strong. (Full article...)

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                                                July 31 Wikipedia featured article

                                                  The Battle of Warsaw was fought on 31 July 1705 as part of a power struggle for the Polish–Lithuanian throne during the Great Northern War. Augustus II the Strong, the elector of Saxony and king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was allied with Denmark–Norway and Russia against Stanisław Leszczyński, who had seized the Polish throne in 1704 with the support of the army of Charles XII of Sweden. The Polish nobility of the Sandomierz Confederation supported Augustus and his allies, while the Warsaw Confederation supported Leszczyński and Sweden. Augustus helped to develop a grand strategy to crush the Swedish forces and restore himself to the Polish throne, sending an allied army of up to 10,000 cavalry under the command of Otto Arnold von Paykull towards Warsaw to interrupt the Polish parliament. A 2,000-strong Swedish cavalry contingent under the command of Carl Nieroth defeated Paykull's army on the plains west of Warsaw, and Leszczyński was crowned in early October. (Full article...)

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                                                  August 1 Wikipedia featured article

                                                    SMS Hindenburg was a battlecruiser of the Imperial German Navy, the third ship of the Derfflinger class. She was named in honor of Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the victor of the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of the Masurian Lakes, as well as Supreme Commander of the German armies from 1916. The ship was the last capital ship of any type built for the German navy during World War I. Hindenburg took part in short fleet operations as the flagship of I Scouting Group in 1917–18, but saw no major action. The proposed final sortie of the fleet in the last weeks of the war ended when the crews of the capital ships mutinied. Hindenburg was interned with other German battlecruisers at Scapa Flow in November 1918. Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered that the ships be scuttled on 21 June 1919; Hindenburg was the last of the ships to sink. She was raised in 1930 and broken up for scrap the following two years. (This article is part of a featured topic: Battlecruisers of Germany.) (Full article...)

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                                                    August 2 Wikipedia featured article

                                                      Value theory studies the nature, sources, and types of values. Value is the worth of something, usually understood as covering both positive and negative degrees corresponding to the terms good and bad. Values influence many human endeavors related to emotion, decision-making, and action. Value theorists distinguish between intrinsic and instrumental value. An entity has intrinsic value if it is good in itself, independent of external factors. An entity has instrumental value if it is useful as a means leading to other good things. Various debates examine whether pleasure, desire, or something else is the source of intrinsic value. Value realists state that values have objective existence. Anti-realists reject this, with some seeing values as subjective human creations and others viewing value statements as meaningless. Value theory is an interdisciplinary field and its methods range from reliance on intuitions and thought experiments to the analysis of language and surveys. Its roots lie in antiquity as reflections on the highest good that humans should pursue. (Full article...)

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                                                      August 3 Wikipedia featured article

                                                        Mario Party: The Top 100 is a 2017 party video game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the fifth handheld game in the Mario Party series, as well as the third and final Mario Party game for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. The game was released in North America in November 2017, and elsewhere in December. Mario Party: The Top 100 is primarily a compilation of 100 minigames from across the series, specifically ones from the home console installments. It offers several game modes centered around playing the minigames, including a mode that sees traditional Mario Party gameplay with up to four characters from the Mario franchise, controlled by humans or artificial intelligence, competing in an interactive board game. The game received mixed reviews, with general praise for its premise as a minigame compilation and criticism toward its lack of content aside from the minigames. A similar entry, Mario Party Superstars, which also features 100 minigames from the home console games, was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2021. (Full article...)

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                                                        August 4 Wikipedia featured article

                                                          Seal of Missouri

                                                          2020 Missouri Amendment 2, also called the Medicaid Expansion Initiative, was a ballot measure to amend the Constitution of Missouri to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The initiative was on the August 4, 2020, primary ballot and passed with 53.27% of the vote. Following Medicaid expansion initiatives in other states, Republican lawmakers in Nebraska and Utah added work requirements to their states' expansions; supporters aimed to prevent this by proposing state constitutional amendments for future Medicaid expansion initiatives. The measure was supported most in urban areas and opposed in rural areas. After a delay due to a lack of funding from the Missouri General Assembly and resulting litigation, the initiative was slowly implemented in October 2021. Republican lawmakers attempted to roll back the program and add a work requirement through a state constitutional amendment, which failed after the United States Supreme Court prevented its implementation. (Full article...)

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                                                          August 5 Wikipedia featured article

                                                            The Apollo Theatre in 2012

                                                            The collapse of the Apollo Theatre took place on the evening of March 31, 2023, when a tornado struck Belvidere, Illinois, in the United States. A show there, headlined by the death metal band Morbid Angel, had begun despite advance knowledge of imminent severe weather. Winds of 90 to 100 miles per hour (140 to 160 km/h) caused the failure of the lower roof structure; large amounts of debris fell into the sold-out venue, burying many people. Concertgoers removed debris prior to the arrival of the Belvidere Fire Department. One concertgoer was pronounced dead at the scene and 27 were taken to the hospital, of 48 who suffered non-fatal injuries. The street-facing facade and the upper roof structure were found on the street after the tornado. Following the collapse, the lack of safety protocols despite warning became the subject of multiple lawsuits. The Apollo Theatre was condemned the next day, but reopened that September. (Full article...)

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                                                            August 6 Wikipedia featured article

                                                              Silver coin of Constans II

                                                              Constans II (died 411) was the son of the Western Roman emperor Constantine III. When his father rebelled against the ruling emperor Honorius and the army in Britain acclaimed him as emperor in early 407, Constans was a monk. He was summoned to Gaul, appointed to the position of caesar (heir) and swiftly married so that a dynasty could be founded. Honorius acknowledged Constantine as co-emperor in early 409 and Constantine immediately raised Constans to the position of emperor, theoretically equal in rank to Honorius as well as to Constantine. Later in 409 Constans was sent to Hispania (Spain) to quash a revolt, but suffered a defeat and withdrew to Arelate (modern Arles). In 410, Constans was again sent to Hispania with an army. The rebels had strengthened their forces with barbarians and won a battle against Constans; he withdrew north and was defeated again and killed at Vienne early in 411. The rebels then besieged Constantine in Arelate and killed him. (Full article...)

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