Megatokyo is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and
Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and
illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style
of writing and illustrations is heavily influenced by Japanese manga.
Megatokyo is freely available on its official website, with updates on
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is among the most popular webcomics,
and is currently published in book-format by CMX, although the first
three volumes are published by Dark Horse. Sales of the comic's print
editions rank it as the best selling original English-language manga.
Set in a fictional version of Tokyo, Megatokyo portrays the adventures
of Piro, a young fan of anime and manga, and his friend Largo, an
American video game enthusiast. The comic often parodies and comments
on the archetypes and clichés of anime, manga, dating sims and video
games, occasionally making direct references to real-world works.
Megatokyo originally emphasized humor, with continuity of the story a
subsidiary concern. Over time, it focused more on developing a complex
plot and the personalities of its characters. This transition was due
primarily to Gallagher's increasing control over the comic, which led
to Caston choosing to leave the project. Megatokyo has received praise
from such sources as The New York Times, while negative criticism of
Gallagher's changes to the comic has been given by sources including
Websnark.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatokyo>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
German-born British astronomer and composer William Herschel discovered
the planet Uranus while in the garden of his house in Bath, Somerset,
England, thinking it was a comet.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus>
1845:
German composer Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, one of the most
popular and most frequently performed violin concertos of all time, was
first played in Leipzig, with violinist Ferdinand David as soloist.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_%28Mendelssohn%29>
1943:
The Holocaust: Nazi troops under SS Hauptsturmführer Amon Göth began
liquidating the Jewish Ghetto in Kraków, Poland, sending about 8,000
Jews deemed able to work to the Plaszow labor camp. Those deemed unfit
for work were either killed or sent to die at the Auschwitz
concentration camp.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_Ghetto>
1954:
Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap unleashed a massive artillery
barrage on the French military to begin the Battle of Dien Bien Phu,
the climactic battle in the First Indochina War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dien_Bien_Phu>
1996:
In the deadliest attack on children in the history of the United
Kingdom, a spree killer killed sixteen children and a teacher at a
primary school in Dunblane, Scotland, before committing suicide.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
underpin (v):
1. To support from below with props or masonry.
2. (figuratively) To give support to; to corroborate
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/underpin>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Don’t give up! I believe in you all
A person’s a person, no matter how small!
And you very small
persons will not have to die
If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!
--Dr. Seuss
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss>
Lazare Ponticelli (1897–2008) was the longest-surviving officially
recognized veteran of the First World War from France and the last
poilu of its trenches to die. Born in Italy, he moved to France in
1906, and lied about his age to join the French Army in 1914. Italy
entered the War in 1915, and subsequently Ponticelli was transferred to
its army when authorities discovered his true ancestry. After the War,
he and his brothers founded the piping and metal work company
"Ponticelli Frères" ("Ponticelli Brothers"), which produced supplies
for the Second World War effort and as of 2009 is still in business.
Ponticelli was the oldest living man of Italian birth and the oldest
man living in France. Every Armistice Day until 2007, he attended
ceremonies honoring deceased veterans. In his later years, he
criticized war and stored his bravery awards from the First World War
in a shoe box. While he felt unworthy of the state funeral the French
government offered him, he eventually accepted one. However he asked
for the emphasis of the procession to be on the common soldiers who
died on the battlefield. French president Nicolas Sarkozy honored his
wish, and dedicated a plaque to them at the procession.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazare_Ponticelli>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1881:
Andrew Watson made his debut with the Scotland national football team
and became the world's first black international football player.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Watson_%28footballer%29>
1930:
Gandhi began the Dandi March (pictured), a 24-day walk to defy the
British tax on salt in colonial India.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Satyagraha>
1938:
Anschluss: Austria was occupied by the Wehrmacht, and subsequently
became Ostmark, a province within the German Reich.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss>
1947:
The Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman proclaimed the Truman
Doctrine to help stem the spread of Communism.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Doctrine>
1993:
A series of thirteen coordinated bomb explosions took place in Bombay,
India, killing over 250 civilians and injuring over 700 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Bombay_bombings>
2003:
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić was assassinated in Belgrade.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Zoran_%C4%90in%C4%91i%C4%87>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
frumpy (adj):
1. Dowdy, unkempt, or unfashionable.
2. (dated) Ill- or bad-tempered
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frumpy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind
together.
--Jack Kerouac
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac>
The Mozart family's grand tour was a 1763–1766 journey around the
capitals and other major cities of western Europe, undertaken by
Leopold Mozart, his wife Anna Maria, and their musically gifted
children Maria Anna, and Wolfgang Amadeus. Leopold was a court musician
to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and by 1763 held the post of
deputy Kapellmeister. He obtained a protracted leave of absence so that
the precocious talents of his children, then aged eleven and seven
respectively, could be demonstrated to the wider world. The social and
pecuniary opportunities that might accrue from a prolonged trip, taking
in the major European courts, complemented what Leopold saw as his
duty, as a Catholic and a German, to display the talents of his
miraculous children. The grand tour itinerary took the family, via
Munich and Frankfurt, to Brussels. From there they travelled to Paris
and then London. In London Wolfgang made the acquaintance of some of
the leading musicians of the day, heard much music, and composed his
first symphonies. The family moved on to Holland, where the schedule of
performances was interrupted by the illnesses of both children, but
Wolfgang continued to compose prolifically. The homeward journey
incorporated a second stop in Paris and a trip through Switzerland,
before the family's return to Salzburg in November 1766. The children's
performances inspired comments of rapture and amazement wherever they
played. The journey enabled the children to experience fully the
cosmopolitan musical world, and to receive an outstanding education,
which in Wolfgang's case continued through further journeys during the
next six years.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_family_grand_tour>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1649:
The Peace of Rueil was signed, signaling an end to the opening episodes
of the Fronde, France's civil war, after little blood had been shed.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Rueil>
1851:
Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto was first
performed at La Fenice in Venice.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigoletto>
1879:
Japan annexed the Ryūkyū Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa
Prefecture.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABky%C5%AB_Kingdom>
1917:
World War I: British forces led by Sir Stanley Maude captured Baghdad,
the southern capital of the Ottoman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Baghdad_%281917%29>
1966:
In power since World War II, President Sukarno of Indonesia was
essentially ousted by Suharto and the military after being forced to
sign the Presidential Order Supersemar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno>
2004:
A series of simultaneous bombings on Cercanías commuter trains killed
191 people and wounded more than 1,800 in the Spanish capital of
Madrid.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
seiche (n):
(hydrology) A short-period standing wave oscillation of the water level
in a lake, characteristic of the lake's geometry
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/seiche>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great
reliability; and something is bound to come of it.
--Vannevar Bush
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush>
The Mozart family's grand tour was a 1763–1766 journey around the
capitals and other major cities of western Europe, undertaken by
Leopold Mozart, his wife Anna Maria, and their musically gifted
children Maria Anna, and Wolfgang Amadeus. Leopold was a court musician
to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and by 1763 held the post of
deputy Kapellmeister. He obtained a protracted leave of absence so that
the precocious talents of his children, then aged eleven and seven
respectively, could be demonstrated to the wider world. The social and
pecuniary opportunities that might accrue from a prolonged trip, taking
in the major European courts, complemented what Leopold saw as his
duty, as a Catholic and a German, to display the talents of his
miraculous children. The grand tour itinerary took the family, via
Munich and Frankfurt, to Brussels. From there they travelled to Paris
and then London. In London Wolfgang made the acquaintance of some of
the leading musicians of the day, heard much music, and composed his
first symphonies. The family moved on to Holland, where the schedule of
performances was interrupted by the illnesses of both children, but
Wolfgang continued to compose prolifically. The homeward journey
incorporated a second stop in Paris and a trip through Switzerland,
before the family's return to Salzburg in November 1766. The children's
performances inspired comments of rapture and amazement wherever they
played. The journey enabled the children to experience fully the
cosmopolitan musical world, and to receive an outstanding education,
which in Wolfgang's case continued through further journeys during the
next six years.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_family_grand_tour>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1649:
The Peace of Rueil was signed, signaling an end to the opening episodes
of the Fronde, France's civil war, after little blood had been shed.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Rueil>
1851:
Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto was first
performed at La Fenice in Venice.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigoletto>
1879:
Japan annexed the Ryūkyū Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa
Prefecture.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABky%C5%AB_Kingdom>
1917:
World War I: British forces led by Sir Stanley Maude captured Baghdad,
the southern capital of the Ottoman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Baghdad_%281917%29>
1966:
In power since World War II, President Sukarno of Indonesia was
essentially ousted by Suharto and the military after being forced to
sign the Presidential Order Supersemar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno>
2004:
A series of simultaneous bombings on Cercanías commuter trains killed
191 people and wounded more than 1,800 in the Spanish capital of
Madrid.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
seiche (n):
(hydrology) A short-period standing wave oscillation of the water level
in a lake, characteristic of the lake's geometry
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/seiche>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great
reliability; and something is bound to come of it.
--Vannevar Bush
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush>
The Greece Runestones comprise about 30 runestones containing
information related to voyages made by Norsemen to "Greece", which
refers to the Byzantine Empire. They were made during the Viking Age
and until c. 1100. The stones were engraved in the Old Norse language
with Scandinavian runes, and all of them are found in modern-day
Sweden, the majority of which reside in Uppland (18 runestones) and
Södermanland (7 runestones). Most of the stones were carved in memory
of members of the Varangian Guard who never returned home, but a few
stones mention men who returned with wealth. The only group of
runestones that refer to expeditions abroad that are comparable in
number are those that mention expeditions to England, the England
Runestones. The stones vary in size from the small whetstone from
Timans, to the boulder in Ed which is 18 m (59 ft) in circumference.
Most of them are adorned with various runestone styles that were in use
during the 11th century, and especially styles that were part of the
Ringerike style (eight or nine stones) and the Urnes style (eight
stones). The runestones have been continuously identified by scholars
beginning with Johannes Bureus in the late 16th century, with many
stones discovered during a national search for historic monuments in
the late 17th century. Several stones were also documented by Richard
Dybeck in the 19th century. The last stone to be found was in Nolinge,
near Stockholm, in 1952.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece_Runestones>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1841:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that captive Africans who seized control
of La Amistad, the trans-Atlantic slave-trading ship carrying them, had
been taken into slavery illegally.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad_%281841%29>
1842:
Nabucco, an opera by Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi
(pictured), premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabucco>
1862:
American Civil War: In the world's first major battle between two
powered ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fought
to a draw near the mouth of Hampton Roads in Virginia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hampton_Roads>
1945:
World War II: A bomb raid on Tokyo by American B-29 heavy bombers
started a firestorm, killing over 100,000 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II>
1959:
Barbie, the world's best-selling doll, debuted at the American
International Toy Fair in New York City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bougainvillea (n):
Any of several South American flowering shrubs or lianas, of the genus
Bougainvillea, having three showy, colorful bracts attached below each
group of three inconspicuous flowers
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bougainvillea>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his
arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets,
the better he writes.
--Mickey Spillane
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mickey_Spillane>
Harriet Tubman (c. 1820 – March 10, 1913) was an African-American
abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the U.S. Civil War.
After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen
missions to rescue over seventy slaves using the network of antislavery
activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. In 1849,
Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland
to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought
relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of
other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy,
Tubman (or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger". Large
rewards were offered for the capture and return of many of the people
she helped escape, but no one ever knew it was Harriet Tubman who was
helping them. When a far-reaching United States Fugitive Slave Law was
passed in 1850, she helped guide fugitives further north into Canada,
and helped newly-freed slaves find work. When the American Civil War
began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and
then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed
expedition in the war, she guided the raid on the Combahee River, which
liberated more than seven hundred slaves. After the war, she retired to
the family home in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging
parents.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1702:
Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway became the Queen of England,
Scotland and Ireland, succeeding William III.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Great_Britain>
1782:
American Revolutionary War: Almost 100 Native Americans in
Gnadenhutten, Ohio died at the hands of Pennsylvanian militiamen in a
mass murder known as the Gnadenhutten massacre.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnadenhutten_massacre>
1966:
Nelson's Pillar, a large granite pillar with a statue of Lord Nelson on
top in Dublin, Ireland, was destroyed by a bomb.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson%27s_Pillar>
1978:
BBC Radio 4 transmitted the first episode of English author and
dramatist Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a
science fiction radio series that was later adapted into novels, a
television series, and other media formats.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_%28radi…>
1983:
The Cold War: During a speech to the National Association of
Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Ronald Reagan
described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/evil_empire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pulsate (v):
1. To expand and contract rhythmically; to throb or to beat.
2. To quiver, vibrate, thrill.
3. To produce a recurring increase and
decrease of some quantity
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pulsate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is
their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought
not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the
heavens. The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great and the
treasures hidden in the heavens so rich precisely in order that the
human mind shall never be lacking in fresh enrichment.
--Johannes Kepler
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler>
Luc Bourdon (1987–2008) was a Canadian professional ice hockey
defenceman who played for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey
League and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose,
from 2006 until 2008. After overcoming childhood arthritis, he was
selected third overall in the 2003 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
draft and played for the Val-d'Or Foreurs, Moncton Wildcats, and Cape
Breton Screaming Eagles, spending four seasons in the QMJHL. The
Canucks drafted Bourdon with their first selection, tenth overall, in
the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Noted as a strong defenceman who could
contribute on offence, Bourdon represented Canada in three
international tournaments, winning two gold medals at the IIHF World
U20 Championship and a silver medal at the IIHF World U18 Championship.
Bourdon died at the age of 21 near his hometown of Shippagan, New
Brunswick, when his motorcycle collided with a tractor trailer.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Bourdon>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
161:
Following the death of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius
and Lucius Verus agreed to become co-Emperors in an unprecedented
arrangement in the Roman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius>
1799:
Napoleonic Campaign in Egypt: Forces of Napoleon I of France captured
Jaffa, present-day Israel, and then proceeded to kill more than two
thousand Albanian captives.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jaffa>
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces engaged Confederate troops in Pea
Ridge, Arkansas, fighting to a victory one day later that essentially
cemented their control in Missouri.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pea_Ridge>
1936:
Nazi German forces re-occupied the demilitarized Rhineland, violating
both the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties that were signed
after World War I.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remilitarization_of_the_Rhineland>
1950:
The Soviet Union issued a statement denying that German nuclear
physicist Klaus Fuchs had served as a Soviet spy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Fuchs>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ecchymosis (n):
1. A skin discoloration caused by bleeding underneath the skin; a
bruise.
2. The leaking of blood into the tissues of the body as a result of a
bruise
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ecchymosis>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company
you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the
company during the course of the game.
--Gary Gygax
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax>
The Saxbe fix is a mechanism by which the President of the United
States, in appointing a current or former Member of the United States
Congress whose elected term has not yet expired, seeks to avoid the
restriction of the United States Constitution's Ineligibility Clause.
That clause prohibits the president from appointing a current or former
member of Congress to a position that was created, or to a position for
which the pay and/or benefits (collectively "emoluments") were
increased, during the term for which that member was elected until the
term has expired. The rollback, implemented by an Act of Congress in
1909, reverts the emoluments of the office to the amount they were when
that member began his or her elected term. Historically, the
restriction has been met with various responses: choosing another
nominee, allowing the desired nominee's elected term of office to
expire, ignoring the clause entirely, or using a "Saxbe fix" to reduce
the offending emoluments. Although the latter mechanism was passed by
Congress in 1909, it is named for Senator William Saxbe, who was
confirmed as Attorney General in 1973 after Congress reduced the
office's salary to the level it had been before Saxbe's term commenced.
Since the late 1970s, the use of the "Saxbe fix" has been common. The
Saxbe fix has subsequently become relevant as a successful—though not
universally accepted—solution for appointments by presidents of both
parties, of sitting members of the United States Congress to the United
States Cabinet.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxbe_fix>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1836:
Texas Revolution: Mexican forces captured the Alamo in San Antonio from
the Texans after a 13-day siege.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Alamo>
1869:
Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first Periodic Table of Elements to the
Russian Chemical Society.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev>
1899:
The German chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer registered Aspirin
as a trademark.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin>
1945:
Petru Groza of the Ploughmen's Front, a party closely associated with
the Communists, became Prime Minister of Romania.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petru_Groza>
1987:
In the worst maritime disaster involving a British registered ship in
peacetime since 1919, the ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise capsized
while leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 193 on board.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Herald_of_Free_Enterprise>
1988:
In Operation Flavius, the British Special Air Service killed
Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers Daniel McCann, Seán Savage
and Mairéad Farrell while they were conspiring to bomb a parade of
British military bands in Gibraltar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Flavius>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
vulnerary (adj):
1. Useful or used for healing wounds; healing, curative.
2. (archaic, rare) Causing wounds, wounding
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vulnerary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You imagine that what you can't understand is either spiritual or does
not exist. The conclusion is quite wrong; rather there are obviously a
million things in the universe that we would need a million quite
different organs to understand ... someone blind from birth cannot
imagine the beauty of a landscape, the colors of a painting or the
shadings of an iris. He will imagine them as something palpable,
edible, audible or olfactory. Likewise, if I were to explain to you
what I perceive by the senses you do not have, you would interpret it
as something that could be heard, seen, touched, smelled or tasted; but
it is not like that.
--Cyrano de Bergerac
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cyrano_de_Bergerac>
Giants: Citizen Kabuto is a third-person shooter video game with
real-time strategy elements for Microsoft Windows. It was the first
project for Planet Moon Studios comprising former Shiny Entertainment
employees who had worked on the game MDK. The game went through
four years of development before Interplay Entertainment published it
on December 6, 2000, and followed up with a PlayStation 2 port in 2001.
MacPlay published the Mac OS X port earlier in the same year. The
subtitle "Citizen Kabuto" refers to the thundering behemoth who is one
of the playable characters in the game. Players can also take on the
roles of jet pack-equipped and heavily armed Meccaryns, and amphibious
spellcasting Sea Reapers; and challenge each other in multiplayer
games. The single-player mode is framed as a sequential story, and puts
the player through missions, several of which test the player's
reflexes in action game-like puzzles, to teach the abilities of each
playable race. Game critics praised the game for its state of the art
graphics, humorous story, and success in blending in one genre with
another. Criticisms of the game centered on crippling software bugs and
lack of an in-game save feature. The critics also rated its console
version as technically inferior to its PC versions. The game sold
poorly for both Windows and PlayStation 2, although it enjoyed a
successful launch for its small Mac OS X market.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giants%3A_Citizen_Kabuto>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1770:
The pelting of British soldiers with snowballs soon escalated into a
riot in Boston, Massachusetts, leaving at least five civilians dead.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre>
1824:
Britain officially declared war on Burma, beginning the First
Anglo–Burmese War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Anglo%E2%80%93Burmese_War>
1850:
The Britannia Bridge (pictured), a tubular bridge of wrought iron
rectangular box-section spans crossing the Menai Strait between the
island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales, opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Bridge>
1872:
American entrepreneur and engineer George Westinghouse patented the air
brake for trains to stop more reliably.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/air_brake_%28rail%29>
1946:
The term "Iron Curtain", describing the symbolic, ideological, and
physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas during the
Cold War, was popularized by former British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill during a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri,
USA.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Curtain>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
mosey (v):
1. (mainly US, dialectal) To amble; to walk or proceed in a leisurely
manner.
2. (mainly US, dialectal) To set off, get going; to start a journey
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mosey>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Technology adds nothing to art. Two thousand years ago, I could tell
you a story, and at any point during the story I could stop, and ask,
Now do you want the hero to be kidnapped, or not? But that would, of
course, have ruined the story. Part of the experience of being
entertained is sitting back and plugging into someone else's vision.
--Penn Jillette
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Penn_Jillette>
Hurricane Linda was the strongest Pacific hurricane on record. Forming
from a tropical wave on September 9, 1997, Linda steadily intensified
and reached hurricane status within 36 hours of developing.
Subsequently, it rapidly intensified, reaching winds of 185 mph
(295 km/h) and an estimated central pressure of 902 millibars
(26.65 inches of mercury). The hurricane was briefly forecast to move
toward southern California, but instead, it turned out to sea and
dissipated on September 17. It was the fifteenth tropical cyclone,
thirteenth named storm, seventh hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of
the 1997 Pacific hurricane season. While near peak intensity, Hurricane
Linda passed near Socorro Island, where it damaged meteorological
instruments. The hurricane produced high waves along the southwestern
Mexican coastline, forcing the closure of five ports. When Linda was
predicted to make landfall on California, it would have been the first
to do so since a storm in 1939. Although it did not hit the state, the
hurricane produced light to moderate rainfall across the region,
causing mudslides and flooding in the San Gorgonio Wilderness; two
houses were destroyed and 77 others were damaged, and damage totaled
$3.2 million (1997 USD, $4.3 million 2008 USD). Despite the intensity,
the name was not retired.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Linda_%281997%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1461:
Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI was deposed by
his Yorkist cousin, who then became King Edward IV.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_IV_of_England>
1681:
King Charles II of England granted Quaker William Penn a charter for
the Pennsylvania Colony.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Pennsylvania>
1769:
French astronomer Charles Messier first noted the Orion Nebula
(pictured), a bright nebula visible to the naked eye in the night sky
situated south of Orion's Belt, later cataloguing it as Messier 42 in
his list of Messier objects.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Nebula>
1837:
After its population increased to over 4,000 in seven years, Chicago
was granted a city charter by the U.S. state of Illinois.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chicago%3C%21--Main_%5B%5BChicago%5…>
1860:
The Forth Railway Bridge, a railway bridge connecting Edinburgh to Fife
over the Firth of Forth, opened, becoming an internationally recognised
Scottish landmark.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Railway_Bridge>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
partisan (adj):
1. Adherent to a party or faction; especially, having the character of
blind, passionate, or unreasonable adherence.
2. Devoted to or biased in support of a party, group, or cause.
3.
Serving as commander of a body of detached light troops
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/partisan>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Philosophy is based on speculation, on logic, on thought, on the
synthesis of what we know and on the analysis of what we do not know.
Philosophy must include within its confines the whole content of
science, religion and art.
--P. D. Ouspensky
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._D._Ouspensky>