Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 August 27b

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From today's featured article

USS Iowa is a retired battleship, the lead ship of her class and the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships. Iowa served with the Pacific Fleet in 1944, shelling beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok and screening aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. She also served as the flagship of the Third Fleet, flying Admiral William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. During the Korean War, Iowa was involved in raids on the North Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned. She was reactivated in 1984 and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to counter the recently expanded Soviet Navy. In April 1989, an explosion wrecked her No. 2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors. Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in October 1990 after 19 total years of active service. In 2012 she was donated to the nonprofit Pacific Battleship Center and opened as a museum in Los Angeles. (This article is part of a featured topic: Iowa-class battleships.)

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Did you know ...

Roar-ee the Lion

... that the Columbia University mascot, Roar-ee the Lion (pictured), inspired the creation of the MGM Lion?
... that Johannes Schott of Strasbourg took over the printing company of his father, Martin Schott, in around 1500, and printed texts by Protestant reformers such as Ulrich von Hutten and Martin Luther?
... that Presidential Ballots, 1836–1892 was reviewed by Richard P. McCormick, who wrote that it "should stimulate a host of studies in the little-explored field of American political behavior"?
... that Rock Demers was spurred to make The Dog Who Stopped the War after reading an article on youth suicide?
... that soaking a paper banknote in 50% (v/v) alcohol fuel can create a fireproof banknote?
... that after the 2001 fall of Kabul, young men lined up to have their beards shaved off?
... that Coral Bell believed that Ric Throssell had tried unsuccessfully to recruit her as a Soviet spy in Canberra?
... that the Land of Lost Content contains bluebirds from the Blue Bird Toffee factory gates, tickets from the first National Lottery draw and a Sinclair C5?

In the news

Paralympics opening ceremony

Amid evacuations from Afghanistan, a suicide bombing kills at least 170 people at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Tokyo, Japan.
Ismail Sabri Yaakob is appointed as prime minister by the King of Malaysia.
Hakainde Hichilema is elected President of Zambia.
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Haiti kills more than 2,200 people.

On this day

August 27: Independence Day in Moldova (1991)

Nguyễn Khánh

1776 – British forces led by William Howe defeated the Continental Army under George Washington at the Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War.
1896 – In the shortest recorded war in history, the Sultanate of Zanzibar surrendered to the United Kingdom after less than an hour of conflict.
1964 – South Vietnamese junta leader Nguyễn Khánh (pictured) entered into a triumvirate power-sharing arrangement with rival generals Trần Thiện Khiêm and Dương Văn Minh, who had both been involved in plots to unseat Khánh.
2003 – Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing within approximately 55,758,000 kilometres (34,650,000 mi).

Josquin des Prez (d. 1521)
Samuel C. Pomeroy (d. 1891)
Ieva Simonaitytė (d. 1978)

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From today's featured list

Steve Carell

The American sitcom The Office received numerous accolades during its run. The series, styled as a mockumentary, originally aired from 2005 to 2013 and depicts the lives of a group of office employees at the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. It was nominated for forty-four Primetime Emmy Awards and won five, including a win for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2006 and five additional nominations in the category. Accolades from major guilds include a Producers Guild of America Award, a Directors Guild of America Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Writers Guild of America Awards. The show also received a Peabody Award in 2007. Series lead Steve Carell (pictured) was particularly praised for his performance as Michael Scott, earning him a Golden Globe Award and a TCA Award. Carell was also nominated for six Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series but never won the award, which many have considered a major snub. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Guilty Mother is the third play of the Figaro trilogy by Pierre Beaumarchais, following The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro. Like its predecessors, it has been turned into operatic form, but unlike them, has failed to enter the general opera repertoire. This 1876 illustration by Émile Bayard shows one of the main characters, the Irishman Bégearss, a major in the Spanish military, and a great schemer and stirrer-up of trouble.

Illustration credit: Émile Bayard; restored by Adam Cuerden

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