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From today's featured article Interstate 68 (I-68) is a 112.9-mile (181.7 km) Interstate highway in the U.S. states of West Virginia and Maryland, connecting Interstate 79 in Morgantown to Interstate 70 in Hancock, and is also part of the Appalachian Development Highway System. In Maryland, it parallels the historic National Road between Keysers Ridge and Hancock. A road cut at one of the many mountain ridges it crosses, Sideling Hill, exposes geological features that have become a tourist attraction. From 1965 until the freeway's construction was completed on August 2, 1991, its segments were designated as U.S. Route 48. It crosses Allegany, Garrett, and Washington counties in Maryland, and Preston and Monongalia counties in West Virginia. The two largest cities connected by the highway are Morgantown and Cumberland, Maryland. Although the freeway serves no major metropolitan areas, it connects western Maryland and northern West Virginia and provides an alternative to the Pennsylvania Turnpike for westbound traffic from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. US 219, US 220 and US 40 overlap in part with I-68. (Full article...) Recently featured: Ricketts Glen State Park Smooth toadfish Orel Hershiser's scoreless innings streak Did you know... Scaly-foot gastropod ... that the scaly-foot gastropod (pictured) is the only known living animal that uses iron sulfides in its skeleton? ... that Jerome Babe invented the "Yankee Baby"? ... that the 1956 Tamil film Mathar Kula Manickam was based on Rabindranath Tagore's novel The Wreck? ... that Hawaiian chiefess Miriam Auhea Kekāuluohi Crowningburg was buried near the Lunalilo Mausoleum, the final resting place of her cousin King Lunalilo? ... that Neelabh Ashk translated Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, William Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, and Mikhail Lermontov into Hindi? ... that Ursula K. Le Guin's short story "Coming of Age in Karhide" depicts socially acceptable sexual promiscuity? ... that the self-titled extended play of indie pop group Weaves combines elements of high-quality recording common in pop music with lo-fi noise music styles to create a "disgusting" yet "catchy" feel?

In the news Solar Impulse 2 American skydiver Luke Aikins performs a 25,000 feet (7,600 m) free fall from an aircraft and lands on a ground net. A hot air balloon catches fire and crashes near Lockhart, Texas, United States, killing 16 people. Solar Impulse 2 (pictured) becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth, completing a 16-month voyage. At least 19 people are killed and 26 others are injured in a stabbing incident at a disabled care home in Sagamihara, Japan. In cycling, Chris Froome wins his third Tour de France title. Ongoing: Purges in Turkey Kashmir unrest Recent deaths: Chiyonofuji Mitsugu Doris Benegas Lucille Dumont Mahasweta Devi On this day... August 2: Day of the Republic in Macedonia The Leonardo da Vinci 216 BC – Second Punic War: Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal defeated a numerically superior Roman army, near the town of Cannae in Apulia in southeast Italy. 1610 – English sea explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay, thinking he had made it through the Northwest Passage to reach the Pacific Ocean. 1830 – His hand forced by the recent July Revolution, Charles X of France abdicated the throne in favor of his grandson, Henry. 1916 – An explosion sank the Italian dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci (pictured), which was blamed on Austro-Hungarian saboteurs. 1985 – Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashed in Dallas, Texas, US, due to a microburst, resulting in 137 deaths. More anniversaries: August 1 August 2 August 3

Today's featured picture Wah-ro-née-sah (The Surrounder), an Otoe chief, as painted by George Catlin in c. 1832. He was described by Catlin as "quite an old man; his shirt made of the skin of a grizzly bear, with the claws on". Painting: George Catlin Recently featured: Soldiers Playing Cards and Dice Flakstadøya Almond Blossoms

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