Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 August 19

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From today's featured article

Borscht is a tart soup popular in several Eastern European cuisines, including Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Belarusian, Lithuanian and Romanian, as well as Ashkenazi Jewish. It derives from an ancient soup cooked from pickled common hogweed. The variety most commonly associated with the name in English is a beetroot soup of Ukrainian origin; other varieties include sorrel, rye, and cabbage borscht. Borscht is typically made by combining meat or bone stock with sautéed vegetables, including cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes and tomatoes. It may include meat, fish or neither, may be served hot or cold, and may range from a hearty one-pot meal to a dainty clear broth or a smooth refreshing drink. Common garnishes and side-dishes include sour cream, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, uszka dumplings and pampushky buns. Several ethnic groups claim borscht, in its variegated local guises, as their own national dish and consume it as part of ritual meals within Eastern Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, and Jewish religious traditions. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Ramses II at Kadesh

... that the 1275 BC Battle of Kadesh (relief of Ramses II in battle, pictured) is one of the best documented battles in ancient history due to the multiple Kadesh inscriptions?
... that Bryony Page is Great Britain's first-ever Olympic medallist in trampolining?
... that "Stay with Me till Dawn" was Judie Tzuke's only UK top 40 single?
... that Nicole Moerig has competed in road races such as the Amgen Tour of California, Silver City's Tour of the Gila, the Tour de Bretagne Féminin, and the 2016 Women's Tour de Yorkshire?
... that the gothic arches of the Grade I listed Avon Bridge cannot be seen due to a later girder bridge widening it?
... that Asnage Castelly first had to create the Haitian Wrestling Federation before being allowed to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics as his nation's first Olympic wrestler?
... that around the turn of the 20th century, New Jersey amber was burned for heat in the winter?

In the news

Smoke from the California wildfire

The Airlander 10 hybrid airship, which is 92 metres (302 ft) long, makes its maiden civilian flight.
In the U.S. state of California, a wildfire (smoke pictured) displaces more than 82,000 residents, burns more than 30,000 acres (47 sq. mi; 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 19: Tu B'Av (Judaism, 2016); Independence Day in Afghanistan (1919)

Mohammed Mossadegh

1745 – Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands to begin the Second Jacobite Rising.
1934 – Per the results of a German referendum, the posts of Chancellor and President were merged, indicating public approval for Adolf Hitler's assumption of supreme power.
1953 – The intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States orchestrated a coup d'état of Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh (pictured) and restored the absolute monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
2002 – The single deadliest helicopter crash took place when a team of Chechen separatists brought down a Russian Mil Mi-26 with a man-portable air-defense system, resulting in 127 deaths.

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From today's featured list

San José

Costa Rica is administratively divided into seven provinces which are subdivided into 81 cantons, and these are further subdivided into districts. Cantons are the only administrative division in Costa Rica that possess local government in the form of municipalities. Each municipality has its own mayor and several representatives, all of them chosen via municipal elections every four years. The original 14 cantons were established in 1848, and the number has risen gradually by the division of existing cantons. Law no. 4366 of 19 August 1969, which outlines the creation of administrative divisions of Costa Rica, states that new cantons may only be created if they have at least one percent of the republic's total population, which was 4,301,712 as of the last census (2011). The largest canton by population is the capital San José (pictured) with a population of 288,054. The smallest canton by population is Turrubares with 5,512 residents. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Manuel L. Quezon (1878–1944) was a Filipino statesman, soldier, and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He is considered to have been the second president of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo (1897–1901). During his presidency, Quezon tackled the problem of landless peasants in the countryside, reorganized the islands' military defense, promoted settlement and development in Mindanao, and opposed graft and corruption within the government. He established an exiled government in the U.S. with the outbreak of the war and the threat of Japanese invasion.

Photograph: United States Office of War Information; restoration: Chris Woodrich

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