Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 August 8

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Today's featured article
CenturyLink Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. The stadium was designed for both American football and soccer. It serves as the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL) and Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). CenturyLink Field hosted the U.S. Open Cup championship matches in 2010 and 2011, with both occasions setting an attendance record for the tournament final and seeing a Sounders FC victory. The venue also hosts concerts, trade shows, and consumer shows along with sporting events. Located within a mile (1.6 km) of Seattle's central business district, it is accessible by multiple freeways and forms of mass transit. It was built between 2000 and 2002 after voters approved funding for the construction in a statewide election. This vote created the Washington State Public Stadium Authority to oversee public ownership of the venue. CenturyLink Field is a modern facility with views of the skyline of Downtown Seattle and can seat 67,000 people. (more...) Recently featured: Peveril Castle – Halo 2 – Stamata Revithi Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that if an arm of a feather star (pictured) breaks off, then at least two will grow to replace it? ... that Danish wrestler Søren Marinus Jensen won two gold medals at an Olympic Games which is no longer considered to be an Olympic Games? ... that naturalist Charles Darwin's book Geological Observations on South America is based on travels during the second voyage of HMS Beagle? ... that Isaiah Wilkerson holds the NJIT Highlanders men's basketball program records for points and rebounds in their Division I era? ... that last year's Richardson fire in Alberta, Canada, was the second largest in the province's recorded history at over 700,000 hectares (1,700,000 acres)? ... that 2012 Olympic taekwondo competitor Jade Jones won Great Britain's first ever gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games? ... that Madrona Manor, on the National Register of Historic Places, is now a bed and breakfast inn with a Michelin-starred restaurant? ... that Daisuke Sasaki wrestled with and defeated eight other men to become King of Stockholm? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
NASA's Curiosity rover (pictured) lands on the surface of Mars. Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Farid Hijab defects to the opposition. A gunman kills six people at a Sikh temple in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Unidentified gunmen kill 16 Egyptian police officers on the Egyptian-Israeli border in Sinai. In rugby union, the Chiefs defeat the Sharks to win their first Super Rugby title. Olympics summary – Wikinews – Recent deaths More current events...
On this day...
August 8: Father's Day in Taiwan 1786 – Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat completed the first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc (pictured) in the Alps, an act considered to be the birth of modern mountaineering. 1942 – Following a speech by Mohandas K. Gandhi, the All India Congress Committee passed the Quit India Resolution, calling for the immediate independence of India from the United Kingdom. 1969 – At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan took the photo that was used for the cover of the Beatles album Abbey Road, one of the most famous album covers in recording history. 1988 – The 8888 Uprising, a series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and riots against the one-party state of the Burma Socialist Programme Party in Burma, began. 2010 – A massive mudslide of 1.8 million cubic metres (2,400,000 cu yd) of mud and rocks in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China, killed 1,471 people. More anniversaries: August 7 – August 8 – August 9 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now August 8, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A line drawing of the Japanese battleship Yamato, the lead ship of the Yamato class of battleships that served with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed. Named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, she was launched on 8 August 1940 and served as the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet in 1942.

Image: Alexpl

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