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The Big Duck is a 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) ferrocement building in the shape of a duck, and a canonical example of novelty architecture. Built in 1931 in Riverhead, New York, it was moved several times to locations on eastern Long Island, ending up in Flanders in 2007. This structure inspired the word duck as a common term in academic literature used to refer to buildings shaped like everyday objects or describe excessive ornamentation used in graphical presentations of data. It was built by duck farmer Martin Maurer for use as a shop to sell ducks and duck eggs. This was during a period when duck farming was a growing industry on eastern Long Island and novelty architecture was on the rise due to the increasing popularity of automobiles. It was added to both the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places in 1997, and is a principal building on the Big Duck Ranch, which was listed on both registers in 2008. ( Full article... )

Marie-France van Heel

• ... that Marie-France van Heel (pictured) once went on a televised dating show while dating a future UK prime minister?
• ... that Croki, New South Wales , was once a bustling 19th-century river port that declined after railways and roads replaced traditional river transport?
• ... that a 14-year-old was hired to animate a scene in an official Spider-Man film after one of his videos went viral on Twitter?
• ... that critics considered the apparent death of Tingyun to be the most shocking moment in Honkai: Star Rail ?
• ... that Noa 's song " Any Angle " was played 480 million times in the months before its official release?
• ... that an Australian advertising campaign implied that drivers speed because they have small penises?
• ... that the anchanchu , a legendary creature in Aymara mythology, is said to shapeshift into a pot-bellied old man or a wealthy Aymara woman to ensnare its victims?
• ... that the Philippine consulate in Guam facilitated the construction of a statue that may have led to a Guamanian mayor losing re-election?
• ... that Bob Bull went bankrupt in 2016, had a net worth of £1.9 billion in 2023, and then went bankrupt again?

Broad Peak

• An avalanche on Broad Peak (pictured) in Pakistan kills 10 climbers.
• About 80,000 migrants cross the Morocco–Spain border at Ceuta, leading to at least 99 deaths.
• A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, leaving at least 38 people dead.
• In Gaelic football, the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship concludes with Mayo defeating Kerry in the final .

August 6

ALH84001

• 686 – Second Fitna: Pro-Alid forces defeated the Umayyad Caliphate at the Battle of Khazir , allowing them to take control of Mosul in present-day Iraq.
• 1930 – New York Supreme Court judge Joseph Force Crater disappeared in Manhattan, in a case that was never solved.
• 1996 – Researchers announced that the meteorite ALH84001 (pictured), discovered in the Allan Hills of Antarctica, may contain evidence of life on Mars, but further tests were inconclusive.
• 2010 – Flash floods , mudslides, and debris flows across Ladakh in Indian-administered Kashmir left at least 255 people dead.
• 2011 – A series of riots broke out in several London boroughs and in cities and towns across England in response to the shooting of Mark Duggan by Metropolitan Police officers.