Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 September 22

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From today's featured article

Halo 3: ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, released September 22, 2009) is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. Players can select a survival-themed multiplayer mode called Firefight, or select campaign mode to explore the ruined city of New Mombasa during an alien invasion in search of their missing teammates. Bungie initially conceived ODST as a small side-project slated between Halo 3 and Halo: Reach. Story director Joseph Staten penned a detective story with film noir designs, settings, and characters, and composer Martin O'Donnell created a jazz-influenced sound. The game grew in scope during development, and upon release, it became the top-selling Xbox 360 game worldwide. The title received generally positive reviews from critics for its atmosphere, music, and story approach. It was the top-selling title in the United States in its first month, even though reviewers were divided on whether the relatively short campaign and extras were enough to justify the game's $60 price tag. It sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, and Time and Wired declared the game one of the year's best. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Sachin Tendulkar

... that the 2015 Rural Olympics, part of Isha Gramotsavam, featured 7,680 players in 640 teams, with Sachin Tendulkar (pictured) as chief guest?
... that the Grid Compass was allegedly designed to match the dimensions of the company founder John Ellenby's briefcase?
... that in 1920, Irvin S. Cobb, a writer for The Saturday Evening Post, organized a hunting trip to Oregon looking for a lava bear specimen?
... that Pearl McIver was the first person employed by the United States Public Health Service as a consultant on nursing administration?
... that the Regent Street Cinema, which in 1896 screened the first moving footage in the United Kingdom, was also the first UK cinema to show an X-rated film?
... that after sponsoring a bill requiring Atlantic City casinos to have table games with a $2 minimum bet, Dennis L. Riley was kicked out of two that claimed he was card counting in blackjack?
... that the Madeline educational video game series was created to reach young girls who are "often ignored by multimedia developers"?
... that the Anglican priest Roly Bain used to enter church on a unicycle, open the service with the invocation "Let us play!", and preach while balancing on a slackrope?

In the news

Typhoon Meranti

In rugby union, the Rugby Championship is won by New Zealand.
Typhoon Meranti (pictured) affects China, Taiwan and the Philippines, causing at least 30 deaths.
The Chess Olympiad concludes with the United States winning the open event and China the women's event.
The wreck of HMS Terror, last seen in 1845 while on Franklin's lost expedition, is found off the southwest coast of King William Island, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
Passenger services begin on the 54-kilometre (34 mi) Moscow Central Circle rail line.
North Korea conducts its fifth and largest nuclear test to date.

On this day...

September 22: September equinox (14:21 UTC, 2016); OneWebDay; Independence Day in Mali (1960); Day of Baltic Unity in Latvia and Lithuania

François "Papa Doc" Duvalier

1598 – English playwright Ben Jonson killed actor Gabriel Spenser in a duel, for which he was indicted for manslaughter.
1862 – US President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring the freedom of all slaves in Confederate territory by January 1, 1863.
1914 – First World War: The German submarine U-9 sank three Royal Navy cruisers, resulting in approximately 1,450 deaths.
1957 – François "Papa Doc" Duvalier (pictured) was elected President of Haiti as a populist before consolidating power and ruling as a dictator for the rest of his life.
1994 – The Nordhordland Bridge, which crosses Salhusfjorden between Klauvaneset and Flatøy in Hordaland, and is the second-longest bridge in Norway, was officially opened.

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Today's featured picture

Card money, printed on plain cardboard or playing cards, was issued from the 17th to the 19th century to supplement the supply of money in several countries and colonies.

This playing card from Dutch Guiana (now Suriname), dated 1801, has a face value of one guilder. In that colony, card money was first issued in 1761, initially backed by bills of exchange from the Netherlands; but later it was released unsecured, and inflation was an issue for much of the currency's lifetime, with the value fluctuating wildly until it was replaced with paper money in 1826 and formally discontinued two years later.

Card: Government of Dutch Guiana; image courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection

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