The Zapata rail (Cyanolimnas cerverai) is a medium-sized, dark-coloured
rail. It has brown upperparts, greyish-blue underparts, a red-based
yellow bill, white undertail coverts, and red eyes and legs. Its short
wings render it almost flightless. It is endemic to the wetlands of the
Zapata Peninsula in southern Cuba, where its only known nest was found
in sawgrass tussocks. Little is known of its diet or reproductive
behaviour, and its described calls may belong to a different species.
The Zapata rail was discovered by Spanish zoologist Fermín Zanón
Cervera in March 1927 in the Zapata Swamp near Santo Tomás, in the
southern Matanzas Province of Cuba. The swamp holds one other bird found
nowhere else, the Zapata wren, and also gives its name to the Zapata
sparrow. Due to ongoing habitat loss in its limited range, its small
population size, and predation by introduced mammals and catfish, the
Zapata rail is evaluated as critically endangered on the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species.
The swamp is listed as an internationally important wetland by the
Convention on Wetlands.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapata_rail>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1311:
The peerage and clergy of the Kingdom of England imposed the
Ordinances of 1311 to restrict King Edward II's powers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinances_of_1311>
1614:
A group of merchants led by Adriaen Block presented a petition
to the States General of the Netherlands to receive exclusive trading
privileges for the New Netherland colony.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriaen_Block>
1797:
French Revolutionary Wars: The Royal Navy captured eleven Dutch
Navy ships without any losses in the Battle of Camperdown.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Camperdown>
1941:
Armed insurgents from the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia
attacked Axis-occupied zones in the city of Prilep, beginning the
National Liberation War of Macedonia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_in_Yugoslav_Macedonia>
1968:
Apollo 7 (lift-off pictured), the first manned mission of
NASA's Apollo program, and the first three-man American space mission,
launched from Complex 34 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_7>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Nikon choir:
(chiefly Britain, idiomatic) A large group of photographers
simultaneously capturing images of a celebrity, producing numerous
photographic flashes along with an accompanying din of clicking camera
shutters.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nikon_choir>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We face the future fortified with the lessons we have learned from
the past. It is today that we must create the world of the future.
--Eleanor Roosevelt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt>
Wendell Willkie (1892–1944) was an American corporate executive and
the 1940 Republican candidate for president. In 1933 he became president
of Commonwealth & Southern Corporation (C&S;), a utility holding
company. He fought against President Franklin Roosevelt's Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA), a publicly owned competitor of C&S; though
unsuccessful, he sold C&S;'s property to the TVA for a good price, and
gained public esteem. A longtime Democratic activist, Willkie changed
his party registration to Republican in late 1939. He did not run in the
1940 presidential primaries, but positioned himself as an acceptable
choice for a deadlocked convention. As German forces under Hitler
rampaged through Western Europe in the spring of 1940, many Republicans
did not wish to nominate an isolationist like Thomas E. Dewey, and
turned to Willkie, who was nominated on the sixth ballot. His support
for aid to Britain paralleled Roosevelt's, defying Republican
opposition. Roosevelt won a third term, taking 38 of the 48 states and
55 percent of the vote. Willkie made two wartime foreign trips as
Roosevelt's informal envoy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Willkie>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
680:
Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, was killed in the Battle
of Karbala by the forces of Yazid I, whom Husayn had refused to
recognise as caliph.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karbala>
1780:
One of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes on record struck the
Caribbean Sea, killing at least 22,000 people over the next several
days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hurricane_of_1780>
1846:
English astronomer William Lassell discovered Triton, the
largest moon of the planet Neptune.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_(moon)>
1943:
World War II: The Kempeitai, the military police arm of the
Imperial Japanese Army, arrested and tortured over 50 civilians and
civilian internees on suspicion of their involvement in a raid on
Singapore Harbour during Operation Jaywick.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Tenth_incident>
1998:
General Augusto Pinochet was indicted for human rights
violations committed in his native Chile and arrested in London six days
later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictment_and_arrest_of_Augusto_Pinochet>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
biannual:
1. Occurring twice a year; semiannual.
2. (proscribed, through conflation with biennial) Occurring once every
two years; biennial.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biannual>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I do not think that any civilization can be called complete until
it has progressed from sophistication to unsophistication, and made a
conscious return to simplicity of thinking and living, and I call no man
wise until he has made the progress from the wisdom of knowledge to the
wisdom of foolishness, and become a laughing philosopher, feeling first
life's tragedy and then life's comedy. For we must weep before we can
laugh. Out of sadness comes the awakening, and out of the awakening
comes the laughter of the philosopher, with kindliness and tolerance to
boot.
--Lin Yutang
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lin_Yutang>
The Russian battleship Potemkin was a pre-dreadnought battleship built
for the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet and launched 9 October
1900. The crew's rebellion against the officers in June 1905 (during
that year's revolution) is now viewed as a first step towards the
Russian Revolution of 1917. After the mutineers sought asylum in
Constanța, Romania, and the Russians recovered the ship, her name was
changed to Panteleimon. She accidentally sank a Russian submarine in
1909 and was badly damaged when she ran aground in 1911. During World
War I, Panteleimon participated in the Battle of Cape Sarych in late
1914 and covered several bombardments of the Ottoman Bosphorus
fortifications in early 1915. The ship was relegated to secondary roles
after the first Russian dreadnought battleship entered service in late
1915. Panteleimon was captured when the Germans took Sevastopol in May
1918 and was handed over to the Allies after the Armistice in November
1918. She was abandoned when the White Russians evacuated the Crimea in
1920 and was finally scrapped by the Soviets in 1923. The 1905 mutiny
inspired Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent propaganda film The Battleship
Potemkin.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_battleship_Potemkin>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1446:
Scholars in the court of Sejong the Great promulgated the new
Korean alphabet, now known as Hangul (sample pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul>
1831:
Ioannis Kapodistrias, the Greek head of state and the founder
of Greek independence, was assassinated in Nafplion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioannis_Kapodistrias>
1913:
The ocean liner SS Volturno caught fire in the middle of a
gale in the North Atlantic, burned, and sank, resulting in about 130
deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Volturno_(1906)>
1986:
The Phantom of the Opera, a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber
currently the longest-running Broadway show in history, opened in
London's West End.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera_(1986_musical)>
2006:
North Korea conducted a nuclear test, reportedly near Kilchu,
with an explosive force of less than one kiloton, that was condemned and
denounced by many countries and the United Nations Security Council.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_North_Korean_nuclear_test>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
up sticks:
(Britain, colloquial) To go live in a different place.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/up_sticks>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The celebrated Mr. K. Performs his feat on Saturday at Bishops
Gate The Hendersons will dance and sing As Mr. Kite flies through the
ring don't be late Messrs. K and H. assure the public Their production
will be second to none And of course Henry the Horse dances the waltz!
--John Lennon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Lennon>
The 2006 UAW-Ford 500 was an American stock car racing competition. Held
on October 8 at Talladega Superspeedway, the 188-lap race was the 30th
in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the fourth in the ten-race,
season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. Brian Vickers (pictured) of
Hendrick Motorsports won the first race of his career; Kasey Kahne
finished second, and Kurt Busch came in third. David Gilliland, who had
the pole position, was passed immediately by teammate Dale Jarrett. The
race lead changed 63 times, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. leading for the most
laps (37). On the final lap, Jimmie Johnson and Vickers made a move to
pass Earnhardt, but Vickers clipped Johnson. Then Johnson clipped
Earnhardt, and both were knocked into the infield. The race was halted,
giving Vickers the win, although the crowd booed, and he was later
criticized for hurting his teammate Johnson in the points standings.
After the race Jeff Burton maintained his Drivers' Championship points
lead, while Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers'
Championship, 51 points ahead of Dodge and 52 ahead of Ford with six
races remaining in the season.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_UAW-Ford_500>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
451:
The Council of Chalcedon, a Christian ecumenical council,
opened, and went on to repudiate the Eutychian doctrine of monophysitism
and set forth the Chalcedonian Creed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Chalcedon>
1076:
Demetrius Zvonimir, the last native king who exerted any real
power over the entire Croatian state, was crowned.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_Zvonimir_of_Croatia>
1897:
Composer Gustav Mahler was appointed the director of the Vienna
Court Opera.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Mahler>
1952:
Three trains collided (wreckage pictured) at Harrow &
Wealdstone station in London killing 112 people and injuring 340.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_and_Wealdstone_rail_crash>
2001:
In response to the September 11 attacks, U.S. President George
W. Bush announced the creation of the Office of Homeland Security, with
former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge as its director.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
John Hancock:
(idiomatic) One's signature.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/John_Hancock>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every day that we allow ourselves to take things for granted,
every day that we allow some little physical infirmity or worldly worry
to come between us and our obstinate, indignant, defiant exultation, we
are weakening our genius for life.
--John Cowper Powys
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Cowper_Powys>
"Angel of Death" is the opening track on thrash metal band Slayer's
album Reign in Blood, released on October 7, 1986. Written by guitarist
Jeff Hanneman (pictured) and produced by Rick Rubin, it is by far the
longest track on the album at 4 minutes and 51 seconds, and features
prominent verses and choruses, unlike the other tracks. The lyrics
invent a sadistic rant by the Nazi physician Josef Mengele, who
conducted human experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp during
World War II. Despite accusations that the lyrics reflect Nazi
sympathizing and racism, which the band vigorously denied, the song has
been highly influential in the development of both thrash and speed
metal. Although it did not chart, it has been praised by critics, and
appears on all of Slayer's live albums. AllMusic's Steve Huey described
it as a classic and the album as "the pinnacle of speed metal". One of
its riffs was sampled by Public Enemy in their 1988 song "She Watch
Channel Zero?!" (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_Death_(Slayer_song)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
The French privateer Robert Surcouf led a 150-man crew to
capture the 40-gun, 437-man East Indiaman Kent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Surcouf>
1916:
Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland University 222–0 in the most
lopsided college football game in American history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1916_Cumberland_vs._Georgia_Tech_football_game>
1976:
Hua Guofeng succeeded Mao Zedong as Chairman of the Communist
Party of China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Guofeng>
1991:
Croatian War of Independence: The Yugoslav People's Army
conducted an air strike on Banski dvori, the official residence of the
Government of Croatia in Zagreb.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Banski_dvori>
2006:
Russian journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya
was assassinated in the elevator of her apartment block in central
Moscow.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Anna_Politkovskaya>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Down syndrome:
(neurology, chiefly US) A medical condition caused by a chromosomal
excess, whereby the patients bear a certain resemblance to the Mongoloid
race, such as a small head and tilted eyelids, and typically have a
delay in cognitive ability and physical growth.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Down_syndrome>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You and I are created for transcendence, laughter, caring. God
deliberately did not make the world perfect, for God is looking for you
and me to be fellow workers with God.
--Desmond Tutu
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu>
Æthelwulf was King of Wessex from 839 to 858. He was defeated in 843 in
battle against the Vikings at Carhampton in Somerset, but achieved a
major victory at the Battle of Aclea in 851. He went on pilgrimage to
Rome in 855, leaving his eldest surviving son Æthelbald to act as King
of Wessex in his absence. Æthelwulf stayed a year in Rome; on his way
back he married Judith, the daughter of the West Frankish King Charles
the Bald. When Æthelwulf returned to England, Æthelbald refused to
surrender the throne, and Æthelwulf agreed to divide the kingdom,
taking the east and leaving the west in Æthelbald's hands. Before the
twenty-first century Æthelwulf's reputation among historians was poor:
he was seen as excessively pious and impractical, and his pilgrimage was
viewed as a desertion of his duties. Now historians see him as a king
who consolidated and extended the power of his dynasty, and dealt more
effectively than most of his contemporaries with Viking attacks. He is
regarded as one of the most successful West Saxon kings, who laid the
foundations for the success of his son, Alfred the Great.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelwulf>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
618:
Wang Shichong's army defeated that of Li Mi, allowing Wang to
consolidate his power and soon depose China's Sui dynasty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yanshi>
1762:
Seven Years' War: The Battle of Manila concluded with a British
victory over Spain, leading to a short British occupation of Manila.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_(1762)>
1910:
Eleftherios Venizelos was elected Prime Minister of Greece for
the first of his seven non-consecutive terms.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleftherios_Venizelos>
1976:
Two bombs placed by CIA-linked anti-Castro Cuban exiles
exploded aboard Cubana Flight 455, killing all 78 aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_de_Aviaci%C3%B3n_Flight_455>
2002:
Al Qaeda bombed the oil tanker Limburg, causing 90,000 barrels
(14,000 m3) of oil to leak into the Gulf of Aden.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Jewel>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dissident:
In a manner that disagrees; dissenting; discordant; different.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dissident>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Knowledge isn’t restrained by the limits of Malthus. Information
doesn’t need topsoil to grow in, only freedom. Given eager minds and
experimentation, it feeds itself like a chain reaction.
--David Brin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin>
The Jarrow March (5–31 October 1936) was a protest against the
unemployment and poverty suffered in the Tyneside town of Jarrow,
England, during the 1930s. Around 200 men marched from Jarrow to London
to petition the British government, requesting the re-establishment of
industry in the town following the closure in 1934 of Palmer's shipyard.
Palmer's had seen the launching of more than 1,000 ships since 1852. In
the 1920s, a combination of mismanagement and changed world trade
conditions brought a decline which led to the yard's closure. When plans
for its replacement by a modern steelworks plant were thwarted, the lack
of any prospect of large-scale employment in the town led the borough
council to organise the march on London to present their case to the
government. The petition was received by the House of Commons but not
debated, and the march produced few immediate results. The Jarrovians
went home believing that they had failed. Nevertheless, in subsequent
years the Jarrow March became recognised by historians as a defining
event of the 1930s and helped to prepare the way for widespread social
reform after the Second World War.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrow_March>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
610:
Heraclius was crowned Byzantine Emperor, having personally
beheaded the previous emperor Phocas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclius>
1789:
French Revolution: Upset about the high price and scarcity of
bread, thousands of Parisian women and their various allies marched on
the royal palace at Versailles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_March_on_Versailles>
1936:
Around 200 men marched from Jarrow to London, carrying a
petition to the British government requesting the re-establishment of
industry in the town.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrow_March>
1948:
The International Union for Conservation of Nature was founded
at a congress sponsored by UNESCO director Julian Huxley in
Fontainebleau, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Union_for_Conservation_of_Nature>
1999:
Two trains collided head-on at Ladbroke Grove, London, killing
31 passengers and severely damaging public confidence in the management
and regulation of safety of Britain's privatised railway system.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladbroke_Grove_rail_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tutelary:
1. Having guardianship or protection.
2. Of or pertaining to guardians.
3. Having the qualities of a tutor.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tutelary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are not here alone nor for ourselves alone … we are an
integral part of higher, mysterious entities against whom it is not
advisable to blaspheme. This forgotten awareness is encoded in all
religions. All cultures anticipate it in various forms. It is one of the
things that form the basis of man's understanding of himself, of his
place in the world, and ultimately of the world as such.
--Václav Havel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel>
Hurricane Iris of 2001 was the most destructive tropical cyclone in
Belize since Hurricane Hattie in 1961. Iris was the second-strongest
storm of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season, behind Hurricane Michelle.
While passing south of the Dominican Republic, Iris dropped heavy
rainfall that caused landslides, killing eight people. Later, the
hurricane passed south of Jamaica, where it destroyed two houses. On
reaching the western Caribbean Sea, it rapidly intensified to
Category 4 on the Saffir–Simpson scale. A small hurricane with an eye
of only 7 miles (11 km) in diameter, it reached peak winds of 145 mph
(230 km/h) before making landfall in Belize. The storm killed
24 people there, including 20 who died when a scuba diving boat
capsized near Big Creek. It also killed eight people and damaged about
2,500 homes in neighboring Guatemala, and later dropped heavy rainfall
in southern Mexico, where two people died. Destruction in Belize totaled
US$250 million. Because Iris was compact, the damage was confined to
72% of the houses in the Toledo district and 50% of the houses in the
Stann Creek district.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Iris>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1895:
The first US Open golf tournament was held on a nine-hole
course at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Open_(golf)>
1917:
First World War: The British devastated the German defence in
the Battle of Broodseinde, which prompted a crisis among the German
commanders and caused a severe loss of morale in the German Fourth Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Broodseinde>
1941:
Willie Gillis, one of Norman Rockwell's trademark characters,
debuted on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Gillis>
1976:
British Rail's InterCity 125 service, the world's fastest
diesel-powered train, began operations on the Western Region.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterCity_125>
2003:
A suicide bomber killed 21 people and injured more than 50
others inside the Maxim restaurant in Haifa, Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_restaurant_suicide_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Sputnik moment:
The moment when a country or a society realizes that it needs to catch
up with apparent technological and scientific developments made by some
other country or countries by increasing its investment into education,
innovative research and development, etc.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Sputnik_moment>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Unjust attacks on public men do them more good than unmerited
praise. They are hurt less by undeserved censure than by undeserved
commendation. Abuse helps; often praise hurts.
--Rutherford B. Hayes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rutherford_B._Hayes>
Eremoryzomys, also known as the gray rice rat, is a genus of rodent
consisting of a single species, E. polius. Discovered in 1912 and first
described in 1913 by Wilfred Osgood, it was originally named Oryzomys
polius. In 2006, a cladistic analysis found that it was not closely
related to Oryzomys or to any other known member of its tribe,
Oryzomyini. The Brazilian genus Drymoreomys, named in 2011, is probably
its closest relative. Eremoryzomys has a limited distribution in the dry
upper valley of the Marañón River in central Peru. A large, long-
tailed rice rat, with a head and body length of 138 to 164 mm (5.4 to
6.5 in), it has gray fur, short ears, and well-developed ungual tufts
of hair on the hindfeet. Females have eight mammae. The rostrum (front
part of the skull) is long and robust and the braincase is rounded. The
bony palate is relatively short. The International Union for
Conservation of Nature has found insufficient data to assess the
conservation status; the species may be threatened by destruction of its
habitat for cattle farming.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eremoryzomys>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
2333 BC:
According to Korean legend, Dangun, the "grandson of
heaven", established Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangun>
1918:
World War I: Following his armed forces' defeat by the Allied
Powers, Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I abdicated in favor of his son Boris
III (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_III_of_Bulgaria>
1951:
In Major League Baseball, the New York Giants' Bobby Thomson
hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World", a game-winning home run in the
bottom of the ninth inning to win the National League pennant after
being down 14 games.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_Heard_%27Round_the_World_(baseball)>
1986:
After Soviet nuclear submarine K-219 had suffered an explosion
and fire, sailor Sergei Preminin manually prevented an impending nuclear
meltdown by means of a reactor SCRAM.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-219>
2013:
A boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the
Italian island of Lampedusa, with a second boat sinking eight days
later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Lampedusa_migrant_shipwreck>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
scuffle:
1. (intransitive) To fight or struggle confusedly at close quarters.
2. (intransitive) To walk with a shuffling gait.
3. (slang) To make a living with difficulty, getting by on a low income, to
struggle financially.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scuffle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Through Chance, we are each a ghost to all the others, and our
only reality; through Chance, the huge hinge of the world, and a grain
of dust; the stone that starts an avalanche, the pebble whose concentric
circles widen across the seas.
--Thomas Wolfe
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Wolfe>
Super Meat Boy is an independent video game designed by Edmund McMillen
(pictured) and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. The successor
to the 2008 Flash game Meat Boy, Super Meat Boy was released on the Xbox
360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010 and on Microsoft Windows in
November 2010. It was ported to OS X and Linux in 2011, to the
PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2015, and to the Wii U in 2016. In
the game the player controls Meat Boy, a red, cube-shaped character, as
he attempts to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the game's
antagonist Dr. Fetus. The platform gameplay is characterized by fine
control and split-second timing as the player runs and jumps through
over 300 hazardous levels while avoiding obstacles. The game sold over
1,000,000 copies by January 2012, and was critically acclaimed. In 2010,
it received awards for Most Challenging Game from IGN and for Best
Downloadable Game from GameSpot and GameTrailers, as well as a
nomination for the Grand Prize at the 2010 Independent Games Festival.
Critics lauded the game's difficulty, precise control, retro artwork,
and soundtrack.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Meat_Boy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1263:
Scottish–Norwegian War: The armies of Norway and Scotland
fought at the Battle of Largs, an inconclusive engagement near the
present-day town of Largs in North Ayrshire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Largs>
1535:
French explorer Jacques Cartier sailed along the St. Lawrence
River and reached the Iroquois fortified village Hochelaga on the island
now known as Montreal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Cartier>
1941:
World War II: Nazi German forces began Operation Typhoon, an
all-out offensive to begin the three-month long Battle of Moscow.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow>
1996:
A maintenance worker's failure to remove tape covering the
static ports of the aircraft caused Aeroperú Flight 603 to crash into
the ocean near Lima, Peru, due to instrument failure.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroper%C3%BA_Flight_603>
2006:
A gunman killed five Amish girls before committing suicide in a
one-room schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Nickel_Mines_School_shooting>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
pareve:
1. (Judaism) Of food: that has no meat or milk in any form as an
ingredient.
2. (figuratively, by extension) Neutral, bland, inoffensive.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pareve>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What
does it matter that we take different road, so long as we reach the same
goal. Wherein is the cause for quarrelling?
--Mahatma Gandhi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi>