Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 September 13

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From today's featured article

Sega Saturn, on which Sonic X-treme was intended for release

Sonic X-treme was a platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute from 1994 until its cancellation in 1996. It was intended to be the first fully 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game and the first original Sonic game for the Sega Saturn (pictured). The game was conceived as a side-scrolling platform game for the Sega Genesis to succeed 1994's Sonic & Knuckles. Development shifted to the 32X and then the Saturn and Microsoft Windows, and the game was redesigned as a 3D platform game for the 1996 holiday season. The plan was disrupted by illness, company politics, and an unfavorable visit by Sega executives. In place of X-treme, Sega released a port of the Genesis game Sonic 3D Blast, but did not release an original 3D Sonic platform game until Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast in 1998. The cancellation is considered an important factor in the Saturn's commercial failure, as it left the system with no original platform game featuring Sega's mascot. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Illustration of shackled captives on the Marie Séraphique

... that "the most accurate contemporary picture of conditions" on slave ships is an illustration of the Marie Séraphique (pictured)?
... that Cack Henley threw the longest complete game shutout in professional baseball history?
... that places of worship in the English district of East Hampshire include the Temple of the White Eagle Lodge—likened to "an Art Deco version of the Pantheon"?
... that Bill Pinkney was the first African American to sail around the world solo via the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn?
... that Operation Romeo was one of the causes of the Nepalese Civil War?
... that after decades of being a central hub for river dredging operations, Stony Island's population was reduced to a caretaker and his two dogs?
... that New Zealand choreographer and dancer Louise Potiki Bryant was coated in clay by sculptor Paerau Corneal in their interdisciplinary work Kiri?
... that street racing was once prevalent along the Tokyo area's Bayshore Route?

In the news

Emma Raducanu

British tennis player Emma Raducanu (pictured) wins the US Open, becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
The National Rally of Independents, led by Aziz Akhannouch wins the most seats in the Moroccan general election.
A prison fire in Tangerang, Indonesia, kills 44 inmates and injures 77 others.
Carlos Vila Nova is elected President of São Tomé and Príncipe.

On this day

September 13: Feast day of Saint John Chrysostom (Western Christianity)

Model of Luna 2

1541 – After three years of exile, John Calvin returned to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine later known as Calvinism.
1814 – War of 1812: Fort McHenry in Baltimore's Inner Harbor was attacked by British forces during the Battle of Baltimore, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write "Defence of Fort McHenry", later used as the lyrics to the United States national anthem.
1914 – World War I: The French army repulsed a German assault against their positions on high ground near the city of Nancy.
1959 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 (model pictured) impacted the Moon, becoming the first spacecraft to reach another celestial body.
1971 – The Attica Prison riot ended when New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered the storming of the prison, in which 38 people died by gunfire.
2008 – Five bomb blasts took place in Delhi, India, killing at least 20 people as part of a series of attacks perpetrated by the Indian Mujahideen.

William Birdwood (b. 1865)
Claude-Hélène Perrot (b. 1928)
Luiz Gushiken (d. 2013)

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From today's featured list

World map representing Human Development Index values

The Human Development Index of 189 countries is compiled by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the annual Human Development Report. The index considers the health, education and income in a given country to provide a measure of human development which is comparable between countries and over time. The Human Development Index (HDI) was first published in 1990 with the goal of being a more comprehensive measure of human development than purely economic measures such as gross domestic product. The index incorporates three dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and decent living standards. Various indicators are used to quantify how countries perform on each dimension. The indicators are used to create a health index, an education index and an income index each with a value between 0 and 1 which are combined to create the HDI. The data used to calculate HDI comes mostly from United Nations agencies and international institutions. The HDI is the most widely used indicator of human development and changed how people view the concept. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Total internal reflection is the optical phenomenon in which light waves are completely reflected under certain conditions when they arrive at the boundary between one medium and another. This photograph was taken from near the bottom of the shallow end of a swimming pool. The swimmer has disturbed the water surface above her, scrambling the lower half of her reflection, and distorting the reflection of the ladder. Most of the surface is still calm, giving a clear reflection of the tiled bottom of the pool. The air above the water is not visible except at the top of the frame where the angle of incidence of light waves is less than the critical angle and therefore total internal reflection has not occurred.

Photograph credit: Jean-Marc Kuffer

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