Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 August 7

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From today's featured article

The Disneyland Railroad is a 3-foot (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Disneyland theme park of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in the United States. Its route is 1.2 miles (1.9 km) long with four train stations, encircling almost everything in the park. The rail line, which was built by WED Enterprises, is operated with two steam locomotives built by WED and three historic steam locomotives originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. The attraction originated as a concept created by Walt Disney, who drew inspiration from the ridable miniature Carolwood Pacific Railroad built in his backyard. Since 1955 when the Disneyland Railroad first opened to the public at the park's grand opening, it has been consistently billed as one of the top attractions, and for many years visitors had to buy a top-tier ticket to ride the train. It is one of the world's most popular steam-powered railroads, with an estimated 6.6 million passengers each year. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Cherry Garcia ice cream

... that "Cherry Garcia" (pictured) is a cherry ice cream named after Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead?
... that a clinical pharmaceutical scientist is both a practicing pharmacist and a scientist?
... that the specimen from which the blind snake Typhlops meszoelyi was described had a diameter of 3 millimeters (0.12 in)?
... that the 2017 comics series X-Men Gold and X-Men Blue take their titles from a storyline from the early 1990s?
... that Bart Sawyer's pro wrestling gimmick was inspired by Bart Simpson?
... that Melusine, the second opera by Aribert Reimann, premiered at the Schlosstheater Schwetzingen in 1971 and was revived in 2016 by students in Berlin for the composer's 80th birthday?
... that Typhoon Caitlin provided drought relief to Okinawa, where reservoir levels rose from 35% to over 80% capacity?
... that the family of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alex Tizon kept a slave for 56 years?

In the news

Neymar

Brazilian footballer Neymar (pictured) joins French club Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record fee of €222 million.
After Nawaz Sharif is disqualified from public office, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi succeeds him as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Flooding in Gujarat, India, kills at least 224 people.
A suicide bombing in Lahore, Pakistan, kills 25 people and wounds 53 others.
In golf, Jordan Spieth wins the Open Championship.
The Women's Cricket World Cup concludes with England defeating India in the final.

On this day...

August 7: Raksha Bandhan (Hinduism, 2017); Assyrian Martyrs Day (1933)

U.S. Marines wading ashore on Tulagi Island

1461 – Ming general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Emperor Yingzong.
1782 – The Badge of Military Merit, the precursor to the United States' Purple Heart award, was established as a military decoration in the Continental Army.
1933 – An estimated 3,000 Assyrians were slaughtered by Iraqi troops during the Simele massacre in the Dahuk and Mosul districts.
1942 – World War II: U.S. Marines initiated the first American offensive of the Guadalcanal Campaign with landings (pictured) on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
1987 – Lynne Cox became the first person to swim across the Bering Strait, crossing from Little Diomede to Big Diomede in 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Joseph Marie Jacquard (d. 1834) · Richard Sykes (b. 1942) · Frances Oldham Kelsey (d. 2015)

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From today's featured list

Laurel and Hardy

The filmography of Laurel and Hardy, a motion picture comedy team, consists of 106 films released between 1921 and 1951. Together they appeared in 34 silent shorts, 45 sound shorts, and 27 full-length sound feature films. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were established as film comedians prior to their teaming, with Laurel appearing in over 50 silent films and Hardy in over 250. Although they first worked together in the film The Lucky Dog (1921), this was a chance pairing and it was not until 1926 when both separately signed contracts with the Hal Roach film studio that they appeared in movie shorts together. Laurel and Hardy officially became a team the following year, in their eleventh silent short film The Second Hundred Years (1927). The pair remained with the Roach studio until 1940. Between 1941 and 1945 they appeared in eight features and one short for 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. After finishing their movie commitments Laurel and Hardy concentrated on stage shows, embarking on a music hall tour of Great Britain. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

In a Roman Osteria is an oil painting on canvas completed by the Danish painter Carl Bloch in 1866. Commissioned by the merchant Moritz G. Melchior, it depicts the interior of an osteria, with Melchior and some friends in the background. It has been in the collection of the National Gallery of Denmark since 1935.

Painting: Carl Bloch

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