Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 August 12b

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Malcolm McDowell

Star Trek Generations is a 1994 American science fiction film, the seventh in the Star Trek film series. Malcolm McDowell (pictured) joined cast members from the 1960s television show Star Trek and the 1987 spin-off The Next Generation, including William Shatner and Patrick Stewart. In the film, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D joins with Captain James T. Kirk to stop the villain Tolian Soran from destroying a planetary system. David Carson directed with photography by franchise newcomer John A. Alonzo. The distributor, Paramount, marketed the film with merchandising tie-ins, including toys, books, games, and the first website to ever promote a major motion picture. The film opened at the top of the United States box office its first week of release and grossed a total of $118 million worldwide. Critical reception was lukewarm, with critics divided on the film's characters and comprehensibility to a casual viewer. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Jenson Button in 2010

... that Jenson Button (pictured) winning ahead of Lewis Hamilton at the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix was the first one-two finish for British Formula One drivers in over a decade?
... that Western Australia was the second Australian state to legalise voluntary assisted dying?
... that Hayden Bridge is the oldest intact bridge in the US state of Oregon?
... that Mika Kares returned to Finland to perform the title role of Boito's opera Mefistofele at the Savonlinna Opera Festival?
... that Marco van Basten's strike in the UEFA Euro 1988 Final was described as "perhaps the most iconic goal in UEFA European Championship history"?
... that Howell Edmunds Jackson died of tuberculosis less than two and a half years after his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court?
... that when surrounded at the Battle of Oroscopa Carthaginian troops killed their horses and burnt their wooden shields to cook them?
... that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supports the creation of shit flow diagrams?

In the news

Olympics closing ceremony

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases the first part of its Sixth Assessment Report on the state of knowledge of climate change and its effects.
The Summer Olympics close (ceremony pictured) in Tokyo, Japan, with the United States winning the most gold and total medals.
Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya travels to Poland on a humanitarian visa after attempts by the Belarus Olympic Committee to repatriate her against her will.

On this day

August 12

Quagga mare at London Zoo

1099 – The First Crusade concluded with the Battle of Ascalon and Fatimid forces under Al-Afdal Shahanshah retreating to Egypt.
1883 – The last known quagga (example pictured), a subspecies of the plains zebra, died at the Natura Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.
1944 – World War II: In Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Italy, the Waffen-SS and the Brigate Nere murdered about 560 local villagers and refugees and burned their bodies.
1985 – Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed into the ridge of Mount Takamagahara in Gunma Prefecture, killing 520 of 524 people on board in the world's worst single-aircraft aviation disaster.
1990 – Near Faith, South Dakota, American paleontologist Sue Hendrickson found one of the most complete discovered Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons, nicknamed Sue.

Archduchess Isabella Clara of Austria (b. 1629)
Thomas F. Mulledy (b. 1794)
Ladi Kwali (d. 1984)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

The Salvadoran peso was the currency of El Salvador between 1877 and 1919. This gold coin with a value of twenty pesos was minted in 1892, the year in which the Salvadoran mint was established and the production of gold and silver coins began in the country. Only 300 such twenty-peso gold coins were ever minted. This coin is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Coin design credit: El Salvador; photographed by the National Numismatic Collection

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.