Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 May 6

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From today's featured article

Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure video game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It follows teenage protagonist Dave Miller as he solves puzzles and attempts to rescue his girlfriend from a mad scientist. Initially released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, Maniac Mansion was Lucasfilm Games' first self-published product. Conceived by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, it tells a comedic story that draws on horror film and B-movie clichés. Gilbert developed Maniac Mansion's innovative point-and-click interface, which became a standard feature in the genre. To speed up production, he created a game engine called SCUMM, which was used in many later LucasArts titles. Maniac Mansion was critically acclaimed for its graphics, cutscenes, animation and humor. Writer Orson Scott Card praised it as a step toward "computer games [becoming] a valid storytelling art". The game's success solidified Lucasfilm as a serious rival to adventure game studios such as Sierra On-Line. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Bisexual pride flag showing the colours

... that bisexual lighting (colours pictured) has been criticized for contributing to the perpetuation of bisexual stereotypes?
... that in the only church dedicated to Saint Wendreda, the roof is decorated with 118 oaken angels?
... that U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed to revoke government funding using the rescission process, which was successfully used 461 times prior to 2000 but has never been attempted since?
... that footballer Joe Mayo "never really thought about" turning professional, and was training as an accountant when offered his first professional contract?
... that during its development, the predatory plant bug Deraeocoris brevis can consume up to 400 eggs and nymphs of the pear psylla?
... that Pulitzer Prize-nominated film critic Ann Hornaday was once an assistant to Gloria Steinem?
... that some stilts have been designed to be used within saggars?
... that for £5, Amiga users who registered Llamatron would receive a poster, a newsletter, and another game from the company?

In the news

Kīlauea volcano in 2011

The InSight spacecraft and its companion MarCO cubesats are successfully launched towards Mars.
The eruption of Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano (pictured), and the subsequent earthquake, forces the evacuation of nearly two thousand people.
The awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature is postponed until 2019.
At least 110 people are killed and scores more are injured in fierce dust storms across the northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

On this day...

May 6

Grand Palace of Bangkok

1782 – Construction began on the Grand Palace (pictured) of Bangkok, the official residence of the King of Thailand.
1882 – The Irish civil servants Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish were stabbed to death by members of the radical Irish National Invincibles as they walked through Phoenix Park in Dublin.
1941 – American entertainer Bob Hope performed the first of his many shows for the United Service Organizations.
1954 – At Oxford's Iffley Road Track, English runner Roger Bannister became the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
2010 – Major stock indexes in the United States dropped nearly 9% and rebounded very quickly, exacerbated by high-frequency traders using algorithms which have since been outlawed.

James Tyrrell (d. 1502) · Jean Senebier (b. 1742) · Martin Brodeur (b. 1972)

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Today's featured picture

An ultraviolet image of the Cygnus Loop, a large supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. Different parts of the loop emit electromagnetic radiation in different ranges, including visible light for the arcs known collectively as the Veil Nebula. The complete loop is only revealed through radio, infrared, and X-ray images.

Photograph: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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