Wikipedia article of the day for July 17, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 17, 2021 is Paper Mario.
Paper Mario is a video game spinoff series of the Mario franchise, developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for its various video game consoles. The series began when Square took its Final Fantasy franchise to Sony's PlayStation console, leaving Nintendo without a role-playing game (RPG) for the Nintendo 64. The series follows Mario on various quests to defeat one or more antagonists (including Bowser) in worlds created with papercraft materials. The first game in the series, Paper Mario, was released in August 2000. The series has received praise for its writing, characters, and graphics, but garnered criticism for its transition from traditional role-playing to action-adventure, starting with Super Paper Mario for the Wii. The newest game in the series, The Origami King, was released on July 17, 2020.

Wikipedia article of the day for July 16, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 16, 2021 is Morningside Park (Manhattan).
Morningside Park is a 30-acre (12-hectare) public park in Upper Manhattan, New York City. The area, originally known as "Muscota" by the Lenape Native Americans, features a cliff that separates Morningside Heights (to the west) from Harlem. The city commissioned Central Park's designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux to produce a design for the park, which they did in 1873. Jacob Wrey Mould was hired to design new plans in 1880, but little progress occurred until Olmsted and Vaux were asked to modify their plans following Mould's death in 1886. After the park was completed in 1895, three sculptures were installed: Lafayette and Washington, Carl Schurz Memorial, and Alfred Lincoln Seligman Fountain. Columbia University proposed constructing a gym in the park's southern end in the early 1960s, but abandoned the plan after students protested in 1968. The site of the unbuilt gym was turned into a waterfall and pond around 1990, and an arboretum was added in 1998.

Wikipedia article of the day for July 15, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 15, 2021 is General Motors companion make program.
In the late 1920s, American automaker General Motors (GM) introduced four brands to supplement its five existing brands of passenger cars. In descending order of price, these were LaSalle, to supplement Cadillac; Viking (example pictured), to supplement Oldsmobile; Marquette, to supplement Buick; and Pontiac, to supplement Oakland. The brands were introduced in an effort to fill gaps in GM's pricing ladder and produce cars that were cheaper to make for its existing divisions. The Great Depression resulted in the failure of most of these brands. Viking and Marquette were each discontinued within two years of their introductions, and LaSalle after slightly more than a decade. Pontiac had the opposite fate; it was Oakland that would be discontinued, while Pontiac would continue until 2010.

Wikipedia article of the day for July 14, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 14, 2021 is Squirm.
Squirm is a 1976 American horror film written and directed by Jeff Lieberman, starring Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R. A. Dow, Jean Sullivan, Peter MacLean, Fran Higgins and William Newman. The film takes place in the fictional town of Fly Creek, Georgia, which becomes infested with carnivorous worms due to a downed power line. Lieberman's script is based on a childhood incident in which his brother fed electricity into a patch of earth, causing earthworms to rise to the surface. Millions of worms were used over the five-week filming in Port Wentworth, Georgia; worms were brought in from Maine to augment local supplies. Makeup artist Rick Baker (pictured) provided the special effects, using prosthetic makeup. After American International Pictures picked up Squirm for distribution, it was edited to remove the more graphic scenes in a failed attempt to lower its "R" rating to "PG". The film was a commercial success, but had lukewarm reviews. It has since become a critical favorite and a cult classic.

Wikipedia article of the day for July 13, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 13, 2021 is Boeing CH-47 Chinook in Australian service.
In Australia, Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters have been operated by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for most of the period since 1974. Twenty-six Chinooks have entered Australian service, comprising twelve CH-47C variants, four CH-47Ds and ten CH-47Fs. They have been operated by both the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Australian Army. Twelve CH-47C Chinooks were ordered in 1970 and entered service with the RAAF in 1974. The eleven surviving Chinooks were retired in 1989 as a cost-saving measure. However, it was found that the ADF's other helicopters could not replace their capabilities, so four were upgraded to CH-47D standard, and returned to service with the army in 1995. The army acquired two more CH-47Ds in 2000 and another pair in 2012. The CH-47Ds were replaced with ten new CH-47F Chinooks during 2015 and 2016. They have mainly been used to support the army, though they have performed a wide range of other tasks. Chinooks formed part of the Australian contribution to the Iraq War in 2003 and to the war in Afghanistan.

Wikipedia article of the day for July 12, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 12, 2021 is National Union of Freedom Fighters.
The National Union of Freedom Fighters (NUFF) was an armed Marxist revolutionary group in Trinidad and Tobago. The group fought a guerrilla campaign to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Eric Williams following the failed 1970 Black Power uprising and a mutiny in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment. NUFF formed from the Western United Liberation Front, a loose grouping of largely unemployed men from the western suburbs of Port of Spain. NUFF drew disaffected members of the National Joint Action Committee, a Black Power organisation, and established a training camp in south Trinidad. In 1972 and 1973 NUFF attacked police posts to acquire weapons, robbed banks, and carried out an insurgent campaign against the government. With improved intelligence capabilities, the government eventually killed or captured most of its leadership. Eighteen NUFF members and three policemen were killed over the course of the insurgency. NUFF was anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist and was notable for the extent to which women played an active role in the organisation, including among its guerrilla fighters.

Wikipedia article of the day for July 11, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for July 11, 2021 is Plants vs. Zombies (video game).
Plants vs. Zombies is a 2009 tower defense video game developed and published by PopCap Games. First released for Windows and Mac OS X, the game has since been ported to consoles, handhelds, and mobile devices. In Plants vs. Zombies, the player takes the role of a homeowner in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. As a horde of zombies approaches along several parallel lanes, the player must defend the home by putting down plants, which fire projectiles at the zombies or otherwise detrimentally affect them. The game was designed by George Fan (pictured) as a sequel to Insaniquarium. Fan took inspiration from the games Magic: The Gathering and Warcraft III and the movie Swiss Family Robinson. The game was positively received by critics and was nominated for multiple awards. It quickly became the best-selling game developed by PopCap Games. Plants vs. Zombies was followed by a series of games after the acquisition of PopCap Games by Electronic Arts.