Resident Evil 5 is a third-person shooter video game developed and
published by Capcom, and produced by Jun Takeuchi (pictured). It was
released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles on March 5, 2009. The
plot involves an investigation of a terrorist threat by counter-
terrorist agents Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar in Kijuju, a fictional
region of Africa. It is the seventh major installment in the Resident
Evil series, and the first designed for two-player cooperative gameplay.
Critics described the game as closer to the action genre than the
survival horror of other games in the series. Resident Evil 5 had a
mostly positive reception, although it was criticized for problems with
its controls. The game was re-released for Nvidia Shield, PlayStation 4
and Xbox One in 2016. As of September 2018, it had sold over 7.4 million
units, making it Capcom's second best-selling game and the best-selling
game of the Resident Evil franchise.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_5>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1770:
The Boston Massacre (engraving shown): British soldiers fired
into a crowd in Boston, Massachusetts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre>
1811:
Peninsular War: In the Battle of Barrosa, an Anglo-Spanish-
Portuguese force trying to lift the Siege of Cádiz defeated a French
attack but could not break the siege itself.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Barrosa>
1966:
BOAC Flight 911 disintegrated and crashed near Mount Fuji
shortly after departure from Tokyo International Airport, killing all
113 passengers and 11 crew members on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_911>
1975:
Computer hackers in Silicon Valley held the first meeting of
the Homebrew Computer Club, whose members would go on to have great
influence on the development of the personal computer.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_Computer_Club>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
dekulakize:
(transitive, historical) Usually with reference to the Soviet Union and
communist Eastern Europe: to dispossess (a kulak, that is, a prosperous
peasant) of his or her property and/or rights.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dekulakize>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 My favorite thing about the Internet is that you get to go into
the private world of real creeps without having to smell them. Â
--Penn Jillette
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Penn_Jillette>
John Adams (1735–1826) was a leader of the American Revolution and the
second president of the United States (1797–1801). He was a dedicated
diarist, and corresponded with his wife and advisor Abigail, recording
important historical information on the era. As a lawyer, Adams was
devoted to the right to counsel and presumption of innocence; he defied
anti-British sentiment and successfully defended British soldiers
against murder charges arising from the Boston Massacre. A political
activist prior to the revolution, Adams was a Massachusetts delegate to
the Continental Congress. He assisted in drafting the Declaration of
Independence in 1776 and was its foremost advocate in Congress. As a
diplomat in Europe, he helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris with
Britain. Adams was the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution
in 1780, which influenced the United States Constitution.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1769:
French astronomer Charles Messier first noted the Orion Nebula,
a bright nebula situated south of Orion's Belt, later cataloguing it as
the 42nd item in his list of Messier objects.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Nebula>
1899:
Cyclone Mahina struck Bathurst Bay, Queensland, killing over
400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in Australian history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Mahina>
1944:
Murder, Inc. leader Louis Buchalter was executed, becoming the
only major mob boss to receive the death penalty in the United States
after being convicted of murder.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Buchalter>
2009:
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for
President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes
against humanity regarding his actions during the War in Darfur.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Bashir>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
not to put too fine a point on it:
(idiomatic) Used to apologize for a possibly impolite statement one is
making.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/not_to_put_too_fine_a_point_on_it>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points.
Â
--Knute Rockne
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Knute_Rockne>
The Liberty Head double eagle is an American twenty-dollar gold piece
struck as a pattern coin in 1849, and for commerce from 1850 to 1907.
The eagle, or ten-dollar piece, had been the largest denomination
authorized by the Mint Act of 1792, but Congress considered new
denominations of gold coinage in the 1840s after the discovery of gold
in California generated a large amount of bullion. The gold dollar and
double eagle were the result. After considerable infighting at the
Philadelphia Mint, United States Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre
designed the double eagle. Only one 1849 double eagle is known to
survive; it rests in the National Numismatic Collection at the
Smithsonian. The coin was immediately successful; merchants and banks
used it in trade, and it was struck until replaced by the Saint-Gaudens
double eagle in 1907. Many were melted when President Franklin D.
Roosevelt recalled gold coins from the public in 1933.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Head_double_eagle>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1875:
The first indoor game of ice hockey was played at the Victoria
Skating Rink in Montreal by James Creighton and McGill University
students.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_indoor_ice_hockey_game>
1945:
Second World War: The Royal Air Force accidentally bombed the
Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in the Dutch city of The Hague, killing 511
evacuees.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_the_Bezuidenhout>
1972:
Jethro Tull released Thick as a Brick, a concept album
supposedly written by an eight-year-old boy, Gerald Bostock.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_as_a_Brick>
2012:
Two passenger trains collided head-on near the town of
Szczekociny in Poland, resulting in 16 deaths and 58 injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szczekociny_rail_crash>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
triangulation:
1. (uncountable, surveying) A technique in which distances and
directions are estimated from an accurately measured baseline and the
principles of trigonometry.
2. (countable, surveying) The network of triangles so obtained, that are
the basis of a chart or map.
3. (countable, chess) A delaying move in which the king moves in a
triangular path to force the advance of a pawn.
4. (uncountable, navigation, seismology) A process by which an unknown
location is found using three known distances from known locations.
5. (uncountable, politics) The practice of repositioning one's group or
oneself on the political spectrum in an attempt to capture the centre.
6. (uncountable, qualitative research) The use of three (or more)
researchers to interview the same people or to evaluate the same
evidence to reduce the impact of individual bias.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/triangulation>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Truth is powerful, and, if not instantly, at least by slow
degrees, may make good her possession. Gleams of good sense may
penetrate through the thickest clouds of error … and, as the true
object of education is not to render the pupil the mere copy of his
preceptor, it is rather to be rejoiced in, than lamented, that various
reading should lead him into new trains of thinking; open to him new
mines of science and new incentives to virtue; and perhaps, by a blended
and compound effect, produce in him an improvement which was out of the
limits of his lessons, and raise him to heights the preceptor never
knew. Â
--William Godwin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin>
Germanium (Ge) is a chemical element with atomic number 32. It is a
lustrous, hard, greyish-white metalloid in the carbon group, chemically
similar to silicon (Si) and tin (Sn). In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev
predicted the existence of germanium (and later some of its properties)
based on its position in his periodic table (extract pictured). In 1886,
Clemens Winkler discovered the element in a rare mineral called
argyrodite. Mendeleev's predictions closely matched the properties of
germanium, and this contributed to the wider acceptance of his periodic
table. Germanium is a semiconductor used in transistors and various
electronic devices, fibre-optic systems, infrared optics, solar cell
applications, and light-emitting diodes. It is mined primarily from
sphalerite (a zinc ore), along with silver, lead, and copper ores.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanium>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1896:
Ethiopia defeated Italy at the Battle of Adwa, ending the First
Italo-Ethiopian War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adwa>
1921:
The Australian cricket team, led by Warwick Armstrong, became
the first team to complete a whitewash in the Ashes, something that
would not be repeated for 86 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwick_Armstrong>
1958:
Archbishop of Chicago Samuel Stritch was appointed Pro-Prefect
of the Propagation of Faith, becoming the first American member of the
Roman Curia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Stritch>
2014:
A group of knife-wielding men and women attacked passengers at
Kunming railway station in Kunming, China, leaving 31 victims and 4
perpetrators dead with more than 140 others injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Kunming_attack>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
pendragon:
Also capitalized as Pendragon: a title assumed by the ancient British
chiefs when called to lead other chiefs: chief war leader, dictator, or
king.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pendragon>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Pride is not a wise counselor. People who believe themselves to
be the incarnation of good have a distorted view of the world. The
absence of any obstacle to the deployment of strength is dangerous for
the strong themselves: passion takes precedence over reason. "No power
without limit can be legitimate," as Montesquieu wrote long ago.
Political wisdom does not consist in seeking only immediate victory, nor
does it require systematic preference of "us" over "them." Â
--Tzvetan Todorov
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tzvetan_Todorov>
Dark Angel is an American cyberpunk television series that premiered in
October 2000. Created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee, it starred
Jessica Alba (pictured) in her breakthrough role. Set in 2019, the
series chronicles the life of Max Guevara (Alba), a genetically enhanced
super-soldier who escapes from a covert military facility as a child. In
a post-apocalyptic Seattle, she tries to lead a normal life, while
eluding capture by government agents and searching for her siblings
scattered in the aftermath of their escape. The first season received
mainly positive reviews and won several awards, including the People's
Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama. The second (final) season
received some criticism for new plot elements. A series of novels
continued the storyline, and a video game adaptation was released. Dark
Angel has gothic and female empowerment themes, and Max has been
compared to other strong female characters in Cameron's work, including
Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Angel_%282000_TV_series%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1893:
USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first
battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships
of the time, was launched.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indiana_%28BB-1%29>
1975:
A London Underground train at Moorgate station failed to stop
at a terminal platform, crashing and causing the deaths of 43 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorgate_tube_crash>
1997:
Two heavily armed bank robbers exchanged gunfire with officers
of the Los Angeles Police Department in North Hollywood, in one of the
longest and bloodiest shootouts in American police history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout>
2013:
Benedict XVI became the first pope in nearly 600 years to
resign from the papacy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resignation_of_Pope_Benedict_XVI>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
carbonado:
1. (dated) Meat or fish that has been scored and broiled. […]
2. A dark, non-transparent, impure form of polycrystalline diamond (also
containing graphite and amorphous carbon) used in drilling.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carbonado>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 I want to first of all, thank you. I know that this has been
hard. I know that you face a lot. I know that you are worried about your
family — but this is part of your destiny. And, hopefully, this
portion of your destiny will lead to a better — a better, a better
Michael Cohen, a better Donald Trump, a better United States of America
and a better world. And I mean that from the depths of my heart. When
we’re dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: "In 2019,
what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?" Did we stand
on the sidelines and say nothing? … Come on, now — we can do more
than one thing. And we have got to get back to normal. Â
--Elijah Cummings
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elijah_Cummings>
Waisale Serevi (born 1968) is a former Fijian rugby union footballer and
coach. A member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame, he is widely
considered to be the greatest rugby sevens player in the history of the
game. In the 15-man game, he played for Fiji 39 times between 1989 and
2003, scoring 376 points and representing his country in the 1991, 1999,
and 2003 Rugby World Cups. He also played professionally for the
Mitsubishi, Leicester, Stade Montois, Stade Bordelais and Staines rugby
teams. His representative sevens career started in 1989 when he played
for Fiji at the Hong Kong tournament. Serevi also played in the 1993,
1997, 2001, and 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens, winning the World Cup with
Fiji in 1997 and 2005. He won silver at the Commonwealth Games in 1998
and 2002, and captured bronze in 2006. After winning the 2005 Rugby
World Cup Sevens, Serevi was appointed player-coach of the Fiji Sevens
national team, and led them to a 2005–06 World Sevens Series victory.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waisale_Serevi>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
Napoleon escaped from Elba (return depicted), an island off the
coast of Italy, where he had been exiled after the signing of the Treaty
of Fontainebleau one year earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon>
1935:
Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe reinstated, violating the
Treaty of Versailles signed at the end of World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe>
1979:
The Superliner railcar entered revenue service with Amtrak.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superliner_%28railcar%29>
2012:
African-American teenager Trayvon Martin was killed while
walking in a Sanford, Florida, neighborhood, prompting a nationwide
controversy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
haul:
1. (transitive) To transport by drawing or pulling, as with horses or
oxen, or a motor vehicle.
2. (transitive) To draw or pull something heavy.
3. (transitive) To carry or transport something, with a connotation that
the item is heavy or otherwise difficult to move.
4. (transitive, figuratively) To drag, to pull, to tug.
5. (transitive, figuratively) Followed by up: to summon to be
disciplined or held answerable for something.
6. (intransitive) To pull apart, as oxen sometimes do when yoked.
7. (transitive, intransitive, nautical) To steer (a vessel) closer to
the wind.
8. (intransitive, nautical) Of the wind: to shift fore (more towards the
bow).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haul>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, Livin' in the
hopeless, hungry side of town, I wear it for the prisoner who has long
paid for his crime, But is there because he's a victim of the times.
Â
--Johnny Cash
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johnny_Cash>
Plesiorycteropus was a mammal from Madagascar that became extinct
sometime after 200Â BCE, as evidenced by radiocarbon dating. Upon its
description in 1895 by French naturalist Henri Filhol, Plesiorycteropus
was classified with the aardvark, but more recent studies have found
little evidence for that linkage. Molecular evidence instead suggests
that it is related to the tenrecs, in the order Afrosoricida. Two
species are recognized, the larger P. madagascariensis and the smaller
P. germainepetterae; subfossil remains of both species have been found
in the same site. Only limb and partial pelvis and skull bones have been
recovered to date. Plesiorycteropus was probably a digging animal that
fed on insects such as termites and ants. It also shows adaptations for
climbing and sitting. Estimates of its mass range from 6 to 18 kilograms
(13 to 40Â lb). Forest destruction by humans may have contributed to its
extinction.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiorycteropus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1711:
George Frideric Handel's Rinaldo, the first Italian language
opera written specifically for the London stage, premiered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinaldo_%28opera%29>
1803:
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Marbury v. Madison, declared an act
of Congress unconstitutional for the first time, forming the basis of
judicial review.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison>
1943:
World War II: The Battle of Kasserine Pass, the first major
engagement between American and Axis forces in Africa, ended with the
Allied forces suffering heavy losses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kasserine_Pass>
1989:
United Airlines Flight 811 experienced an uncontrolled
decompression after leaving Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii,
killing nine passengers when their seats were sucked out of the
aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
histrionic:
1. Of or relating to actors or acting.
2. (by extension) Excessively dramatic or emotional, especially with the
intention to draw attention.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/histrionic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water
or do you want a chance to change the world? Â
--Steve Jobs
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs>