Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 August 20

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From today's featured article

Old Pine Church is a mid-19th-century church near Purgitsville, West Virginia. It is among the earliest remaining log churches in Hampshire County, along with Capon Chapel and Mount Bethel Church. Constructed in 1838 to serve as a nondenominational church, it may also have been built as a meeting place for Schwarzenau Brethren adherents, known as "Dunkers" or "Dunkards". The church probably hosted German Methodist settlers as well. By 1870, most services were for the Brethren denomination, and in 1878, the church's congregation split into White Pine Church of the Brethren and Old Pine Church congregations. Both continued to use the church until 1907. Old Pine Church reportedly housed a school in the early 20th century while still serving as a center for worship. In 1968, residents of the Purgitsville community raised funds to restore the church. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 for its "significant settlement-era rural religious architecture in the Potomac Highlands." (Full article...)

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In the news

Airlander 10

The Airlander 10 hybrid airship (pictured), which is 92 metres (302 ft) long, makes its maiden civilian flight.
A wildfire in the U.S. state of California displaces more than 82,000 residents, burns more than 30,000 acres (120 sq. km) and threatens at least 34,500 structures.
The China National Space Administration successfully launches Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, the first spacecraft capable of quantum key distribution.
Edgar Lungu is re-elected President of Zambia.
In eSports, The International Dota 2 championships conclude with Wings Gaming defeating Digital Chaos in the final.

On this day...

August 20: St. Stephen's Day in Hungary

NS Savannah

14 – The adopted son of Roman emperor Augustus Agrippa Postumus, was executed by his guards while in exile under mysterious circumstances.
1710 – War of the Spanish Succession: The Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by the Marquis de Bay was soundly defeated by a multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg.
1882 – The 1812 Overture by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was first performed at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.
1962 – NS Savannah (pictured), the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, made her maiden voyage.
1998 – The Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan was destroyed by a missile attack launched by the United States in retaliation for the August 7 US embassy bombings.

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Today's featured picture

A ventral view of Morpho didius, a Neotropical butterfly belonging to the subfamily Morphinae of family Nymphalidae. With a wingspan reaching 150 mm (5.9 in), it is one of the largest of Morpho species.

Photograph: Didier Descouens

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