Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 April 22

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Box art

Gravity Bone is a freeware first-person adventure video game developed by Brendon Chung through his studio, Blendo Games, and released on August 28, 2008. The game employs a modified version of id Software's id Tech 2 engine—originally used for Quake 2—and incorporates music originally performed by Xavier Cugat for films by director Wong Kar-wai. Four incarnations of the game were produced during its one-year development; the first featured more first-person shooter elements than the released version. Subsequent versions included more spy-oriented gameplay. Gravity Bone received critical acclaim from video game journalists. It was called "a pleasure to experience" by Charles Onyett from IGN, and was compared to games such as Team Fortress 2 and Portal. The game was praised for its visual style, atmosphere, cohesive story, and ability to quickly catch the player's interest. It received the "Best Arthouse Game" award in Game Tunnel's Special Awards of 2008. A sequel released in 2012, Thirty Flights of Loving, was also critically acclaimed, mostly for its novel nonlinear storytelling. (Full article...)

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White House Passover Seder, 2011

... that President Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to conduct a Passover Seder in the White House (pictured), which he has done annually since 2009?
... that with over 50 million copies in print, the Maxwell House Haggadah is the best known and most popular Passover Haggadah among American Jews?
... that Gérard Lhéritier's career took off when he discovered balloon mail?
... that during Passover, some people use matzah as a substitute for traditional pizza crusts?
... that in times past, the head of the household would go out to the street to say Ha Lachma Anya, thus inviting poor people to join him at the Passover Seder?
... that L'Shana Haba'ah is sung at the end of the Passover Seder?
... that common hogweed was originally the main ingredient of borscht?

In the news

Prince in 2009

American singer and songwriter Prince (pictured) dies at the age of 57.
At least 64 people are killed and more than 340 others injured in an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Ethiopians Lemi Berhanu Hayle and Atsede Baysa win the men's and women's Boston Marathon, respectively.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits Ecuador, killing at least 480 people and injuring more than 4,000 others.
Two earthquakes kill at least 40 people and injure more than 3,000 others across Kyushu, Japan.

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On this day...

April 22: Earth Day; Fast of the Firstborn begins at dawn and Passover begins at sunset (Judaism, 2016)

"The Old Gate", Tsinghua University

1622 – An Anglo-Persian force combined to take over the Portuguese garrison at Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf.
1889 – Over 50,000 people rushed to claim a piece of the available two million acres (8,000 km²) in the Unassigned Lands, the present-day US state of Oklahoma, entirely founding the brand-new Oklahoma City.
1911 – Tsinghua University ("The Old Gate" pictured), one of the leading universities in mainland China, was founded, funded by an unexpected surplus in indemnities paid by the Qing Dynasty to the United States as a result of the Boxer Rebellion.
1948 – Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: The Jewish paramilitary group Haganah captured Haifa from the Arab Liberation Army.
2000 – In a predawn raid, US Immigration and Naturalization Service agents seized six-year-old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida, and returned him to his Cuban father.

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From today's featured list

Redoubt Volcano

The National Natural Landmarks in Alaska include 16 of the almost 600 National Natural Landmarks (NNLs) in the United States. They cover areas of geological and biological importance, and include craters, volcanoes, glaciers, lakes, islands and habitats for several rare species. The first set of five designations was made in 1967, while the most recent were made when two new sites were designated in 1976. Six landmarks are found within the Unorganized Borough, while the rest are located in organized boroughs; Aleutians East Borough holds the most, with four. Natural Landmarks in Alaska range from 170 to 1,800,000 acres (69 to 728,434 ha; 0.27 to 2,812.50 sq mi) in size. Owners include private individuals and several state and federal agencies. The National Natural Landmarks Program is administered by the National Park Service, a branch of the Department of the Interior. The National Park Service determines which properties meet NNL criteria and, after notifying the owners, makes nomination recommendations. (Full list...)

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A banknote for two Massachusetts shillings, or 1/10 of a Massachusetts pound, dated 1 May 1741. Massachusetts was the first of the Thirteen Colonies to have its own currency, authorizing the issuance of paper money in 1690; South Carolina would follow with its own pound in 1703. The pound saw heavy inflation and, in 1749, Massachusetts withdrew its paper money from circulation and returned to specie.

Banknote: Province of Massachusetts Bay; image courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution

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