Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 October 8

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From today's featured article

Accolade, Inc. was an American game developer and publisher based in San Jose, California. The company was founded in 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead, who had previously co-founded Activision. Accolade became known for its sports franchises, including HardBall!, Jack Nicklaus, and Test Drive. By the 1990s, Accolade saw critical acclaim for Star Control, as well as strong sales for Bubsy. However, Sega sued Accolade for creating unauthorized Sega Genesis games by reverse-engineering the console. Accolade won the case on appeal, overturning an injunction that had interrupted their sales. The founders soon left the company and a new chief executive, Peter Harris, attracted new investment. He was replaced by Accolade president Jim Barrett, who focused on existing franchises to secure the company's future, which led to a mix of modest successes and commercial disappointments. In 1999, Accolade was purchased by Infogrames, who absorbed them into their operations soon after. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Stadttor, Düsseldorf

... that Karl-Heinz Petzinka, the rector of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, designed the Stadttor (pictured) in Düsseldorf?
... that Show Me the Father is the fourth consecutive film produced by the Kendrick brothers to earn an "A+" grade on CinemaScore?
... that during the First World War, Senegalese Tirailleurs would be withdrawn from the Western Front to overwinter in camps in the south of France or northern Africa?
... that Hylozoic Ground, an interactive architecture model presented in the 18th Biennale of Sydney, is an example of architextiles?
... that Wanda Maximoff was referred to as the "Scarlet Witch" for the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the WandaVision episode "Previously On"?
... that the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V of the Palatinate included a staged sea-battle between Christian and Turkish ships in the River Thames?
... that William M. King, who was born in Connecticut, lived and worked in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Missouri before becoming the third speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives?
... that Richard Osman wrote that Squares were invented because "scientists were concerned that children weren't hurting the roofs of their mouths as often as they should be"?

In the news

Balochistan earthquake damage

Abdulrazak Gurnah is awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature.
A magnitude-5.9 earthquake (damage pictured) kills at least 20 people and injures 300 others in Balochistan, Pakistan.
RTS,S becomes the first malaria vaccine to be approved by the World Health Organization.
Two tropical cyclones impact parts of India, Pakistan, Iran and Oman, resulting in at least 38 deaths.

On this day

October 8

Downtown Edmonton skyline

1076 – Demetrius Zvonimir, the last native king who exerted any real power over the entire Croatian state, was crowned.
1871 – Five large fires broke out in the United States, including the Great Chicago Fire in Illinois and the Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin, the latter being the deadliest in U.S. history.
1904 – The Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta (Downtown Edmonton pictured), was incorporated.
1952 – Three trains collided at Harrow & Wealdstone station in London, killing 112 people and injuring 340 others.
2019 – Anti-government protests calling for free and fair elections began in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Pilgrim I (d. 923)
John Hay (b. 1838)
Varsha Bhosle (d. 2012)

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From today's featured list

2019 winner Richard Verschoor

There have been 55 race winners in the 67 editions of the Macau Grand Prix, an annual automobile road event for single seater racing cars that has been held every third or fourth weekend of November on the Guia Circuit in the streets of the territory of Macau. It was founded in 1954 by Fernando Macedo Pinto, Carlos da Silva and Paulo Antas as a local treasure hunt for car enthusiasts in the Pearl River Delta territory, but Swiss expatriate Paul Dutoit suggested that the route be used for local professional motor races. John MacDonald holds the record for the most Macau Grand Prix victories, having won the race four times. There have been eight drivers who have achieved two victories in Macau. Six drivers have won the race twice in succession but none have claimed three or more consecutive victories. The first winner of the Macau Grand Prix was the local driver Eduardo de Carvalho at the 1954 sports car event, and the most recent competitor to achieve their first victory in the territory was Hon Chio Leong of Macau who took his first win in the 2020 Formula 4 race. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Seal of Texas is the official insignia of the U.S. state of Texas. The seal is used by the state governor on official business and depicts a white five-pointed star on a blue background encircled by an olive branch and an oak branch. It incorporates imagery from the Texas state coat of arms, as illustrated here by American engraver Henry Mitchell in State Arms of the Union, published in 1876 by Louis Prang.Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Andrew Shiva

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