Legend Entertainment Company was an American developer and publisher of
computer games, best known for creating adventure titles throughout the
1990s. The company was founded by Bob Bates (pictured) and Mike Verdu.
Legend also negotiated licenses to popular book series and earned a
reputation for comedic adventures. Industry changes led to increased
competition by the mid-1990s and expenses for graphics rose without a
similar increase in sales. As a result Legend outsourced marketing and
distribution and focused on development. While the studio's adventure
titles suffered, working with game publishers allowed it to experiment
with more action-oriented titles. Legend fully pivoted to first-person
shooters thanks to a relationship with Unreal developer Tim Sweeney and
an acquisition by publisher GT Interactive. Sales continued to dwindle,
followed by the commercial failure of Unreal II: The Awakening in 2003.
The studio was shut down in January 2004, with staff moving to other
game companies.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_Entertainment>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1689:
The Convention Parliament met to decide the fate of the throne
after James II, the last Catholic monarch of England, fled to France
following the Glorious Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England>
1906:
SSÂ Valencia was wrecked off the coast of Vancouver Island,
Canada, in a location so treacherous it was known as the Graveyard of
the Pacific.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Valencia>
1987:
After being convicted of receiving bribes, Pennsylvania state
treasurer R. Budd Dwyer shot and killed himself in front of television
cameras during a press conference.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Budd_Dwyer>
2012:
Croatia held a referendum on becoming a member of the European
Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Croatian_European_Union_membership_refer…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
skimble-skamble:
Confused, chaotic, disorderly, senseless.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skimble-skamble>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 You can decide what you want to eat for dinner, you can decide to
go away for the weekend, and you can decide what clothes you’re going
to wear in the morning, but when it comes to artistic things, there’s
never a rhyme or reason. It’s, like, they just happen. And they happen
when they happen. Â
--Meat Loaf
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Meat_Loaf>
The Schichau class consisted of 22 torpedo boats built for the Austro-
Hungarian Navy between 1885 and 1891. Initially powered by steam from a
locomotive boiler and armed with two 37Â mm (1.5Â in) Hotchkiss guns and
two 356Â mm (14Â in) torpedo tubes, they all received two Yarrow boilers
and a second funnel between 1900 and 1910. Ten were converted into
minesweepers between 1911 and 1913. One boat was discarded in 1911 and
the rest saw active service as part of local defence forces for Adriatic
naval bases during World War I. The nine torpedo boats which survived
were also converted into minesweepers in 1917. After the war, sixteen of
the boats were allocated to Italy and four to the Royal Yugoslav Navy.
All of the boats had been discarded by 1929 except for one Yugoslav
vessel. Captured during the 1941 Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, it served
with the Italians and later the Germans. It was lost sometime after
September 1943. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of
the Royal Yugoslav Navy.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Ships_of_the_Royal_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
The Power of Sympathy by William Hill Brown, widely considered
to be the first American novel, was published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Sympathy>
1919:
The First Dáil (members pictured) convened at the Mansion
House in Dublin and adopted a declaration of independence calling for
the establishment of the Irish Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_D%C3%A1il>
1972:
Tripura, formerly part of the independent Twipra Kingdom,
became a state of India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripura>
2017:
An estimated five million people participated in worldwide
demonstrations to advocate for legislation and policies on human rights
and other issues.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Women%27s_March>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pomander:
1. (countable, uncountable, historical) A mixture of aromatic
substances, made into a ball and carried by a person to impart a sweet
smell or as a protection against infection.
2. (countable, historical) A small case in which an aromatic ball was
carried.
3. (countable) A perforated container filled with pot-pourri for placing
in a drawer, wardrobe, room, etc., to provide a sweet smell.
4. (countable) An apple or orange studded with cloves used for the same
purpose.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pomander>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 An unjust composition never fails to contain error and falsehood.
Therefore an unjust connection of ideas is not derived from nature, but
from the imperfect composition of man. Misconnection of ideas is the
same as misjudging, and has no positive existence, being merely a
creature of the imagination; but nature and truth are real and uniform;
and the rational mind by reasoning, discerns the uniformity, and is
thereby enabled to make a just composition of ideas, which will stand
the test of truth. But the fantastical illuminations of the credulous
and superstitious part of mankind, proceed from weakness, and as far as
they take place in the world subvert the religion of REASON, NATURE and
TRUTH. Â
--Ethan Allen
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ethan_Allen>
The Old Exe Bridge is a ruined medieval bridge in Exeter, England. Built
from around 1190 and completed by 1214, it is the oldest surviving
bridge of its size in England and the oldest bridge in Britain with a
chapel on it. The project was the idea of influential local merchants
Nicholas and Walter Gervase, father and son. The bridge was at least 590
feet (180 metres) long and probably had 17 or 18 arches, carrying the
road across the flood plain of the River Exe. St Edmund's Church, the
bridge chapel, was built into the bridge at the time of its
construction. Later all but the central section carried buildings. The
bridge collapsed and had to be partially rebuilt several times but
remained in use for almost 600 years, until a replacement was built in
1778 and the arches across the river were demolished. In 1969 eight and
a half arches of the medieval bridge were uncovered and restored. The
bridge's remains are a scheduled monument and a Grade II listed
building.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Exe_Bridge>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1877:
The Constantinople Conference concluded with the Great Powers
declaring the need for political reforms, which the Ottoman Empire
refused to undertake, later resulting in the Russo-Turkish War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople_Conference>
1942:
The Holocaust: Reinhard Heydrich and other senior Nazi
officials met at the Wannsee Conference near Berlin to discuss the
implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannsee_Conference>
1992:
Air Inter Flight 148 crashed into the Vosges while circling to
land at Strasbourg Airport, France, resulting in 87 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Inter_Flight_148>
2009:
In Washington, D.C., more than one million people attended the
inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American president of
the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Barack_Obama>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
acquit:
1. (transitive) To declare or find innocent or not guilty.
2. (transitive) To discharge (for example, a claim or debt); to clear
off, to pay off; to fulfil.
3. (transitive) Followed by of (and formerly by from): to discharge,
release, or set free from a burden, duty, liability, or obligation, or
from an accusation or charge.
4. (reflexive) To bear or conduct oneself; to perform one's part.
5. (reflexive) To clear oneself.
6. (transitive, archaic) past participle of acquit.
7. (transitive, obsolete) To release, to rescue, to set free.
8. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To pay for; to atone for.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/acquit>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 One change of attitude would change everything. If everyone
realized that it could be a beautiful world and said let's not do these
things anymore — let's have fun. Â
--David Lynch
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Lynch>
Hoodoo Mountain is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Northern
Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its flat-topped summit is covered
by an ice cap that is more than 100 metres (330 feet) thick and at least
3 kilometres (2 miles) in diameter, and has an elevation of 1,850 metres
(6,070 feet). The primary rock types comprising the volcano are
phonolite and trachyte, which were deposited during six periods of
eruptive activity beginning about 85,000 years ago. There was at least
one period of explosive activity. The latest eruptive period began
around 10,000 years ago. A lava flow covering the southwestern slope may
have been produced within the last few hundred years. There have been
periods of seismic activity since at least the mid-1980s, indicating
possible future eruptions. Two valley glaciers on the sides of the
mountain have retreated significantly over the last hundred years. The
closest communities are more than 30 kilometres (20 miles) away.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_Mountain>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1511:
War of the League of Cambrai: Troops led by Pope Julius II
captured Mirandola after a brief siege.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Mirandola_%281511%29>
1930:
In Watsonville, California, tensions between nativists and
Filipino Americans escalated into riots that later spread to other
cities in the state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watsonville_riots>
1972:
The French newspaper L'Aurore revealed that the former Nazi SS
officer Klaus Barbie, the "Butcher of Lyon", had been found to be living
in Peru.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie>
2012:
The Hong Kong–based file-sharing website Megaupload was shut
down by the FBI.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaupload>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gumption:
1. (Britain) Common sense, initiative, resourcefulness.
2. (US) Boldness of enterprise; aggressiveness or initiative.
3. (US) Energy of body and mind, enthusiasm.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gumption>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 To understand a science it is necessary to know its history.
Â
--Auguste Comte
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Auguste_Comte>
The Battle of Hayes Pond was an armed confrontation between members of a
Ku Klux Klan organization and Native Americans of the Lumbee Tribe at a
Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina, on the night of January 18,
1958. The rally was planned by Klan leader James W. "Catfish" Cole who
sought to uphold racial segregation in Robeson County. Cole hoped his
gathering would have a large turnout and widely advertised it,
infuriating the Lumbee community. On the night of the rally, hundreds of
Lumbees, many armed, encircled the Klansmen in the field at Hayes Pond
where they had assembled. After an altercation in which the single light
in the field was destroyed, the Lumbees began firing their weapons and
most of the Klansmen fled. The Lumbees then seized Klan regalia before
police restored order. Afterwards, Cole was convicted for inciting a
riot. The event was widely covered in the local and national press.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hayes_Pond>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1535:
Francisco Pizarro founded Ciudad de los Reyes (present-day
Lima, Peru) as the capital of the lands he conquered for the Spanish
crown.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lima>
1866:
Wesley College, one of the largest schools in Australia by
enrolment, was established in Melbourne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_College_%28Victoria%29>
1958:
Willie O'Ree of the Boston Bruins played his first game in the
National Hockey League, becoming the first black Canadian in
professional ice hockey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_O%27Ree>
1990:
In a sting operation conducted by the FBI, Marion Barry, the
mayor of Washington, D.C., was arrested for possession of crack cocaine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Barry>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
banausic:
1. (formal) Of or pertaining to technical matters; mechanical.
2. (formal) Uncultured, unrefined, utilitarian.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/banausic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 I've concluded that anarchism is an impractical ideal. Nowadays,
I regard myself as a libertarian. I suppose an anarchist would say,
paraphrasing what Marx said about agnostics being "frightened atheists,"
that libertarians are simply frightened anarchists. Having just stated
the case for the opposition, I will go along and agree with them: yes, I
am frightened. I'm a libertarian because I don't trust the people as
much as anarchists do. I want to see government limited as much as
possible; I would like to see it reduced back to where it was in
Jefferson's time, or even smaller. But I would not like to see it
abolished. I think the average American, if left totally free, would act
exactly like Idi Amin. I don't trust the people any more than I trust
the government. Â
--Robert Anton Wilson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson>
Chinatown MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)
interchange on the North East line (NEL) and Downtown line (DTL) in
Outram, Singapore. It is located near landmarks such as the Buddha Tooth
Relic Temple and Museum, Masjid Jamae (Chulia), Chinatown Point and
People's Park Complex. Announced in 1996 and completed in 2003, the NEL
station was one of the most challenging projects during that line's
construction, requiring diversion of roads, and preservation of the
Garden Bridge. In 2007, an interchange with the DTL at this station was
announced. The DTL platforms opened in 2013. Each of the six entrances
has glass structures, with the Pagoda Street entrance having a pavilion-
style transparent roof structure (pictured) and the DTL entrance having
an elliptical shape. The NEL concourse and platforms feature calligraphy
as part of The Phoenix's-Eye Domain by Tan Swie Hian, while the DTL
concourse walls feature artworks of clothes lines as part of Flying
Colours by Cheo Chai Hiang.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown_MRT_station>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1899:
The United States took possession of Wake Island in the Pacific
Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Island>
1912:
Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition reached
the South Pole, only to find that Roald Amundsen's team had beaten them
by 33 days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova_Expedition>
1961:
Former Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba was murdered in
circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the Belgian and
US governments and the UN.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba>
2002:
Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo began
erupting, killing hundreds and leaving about 120,000 people homeless in
the nearby town of Goma.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nyiragongo>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
snatch and run:
An unsophisticated method of committing robbery by grabbing someone's
property and attempting to flee with it.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snatch_and_run>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 When I feel it my duty to speak an unpalatable truth, with the
help of God, I will speak it, though it be to the prejudice of my name
and to the detriment of my readers immediate pleasure as well as my own.
Â
--Anne Brontë
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Bront%C3%AB>
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and
produced by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.
The comedy film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as a trio of
eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New
York City. It also stars Sigourney Weaver (pictured) and Rick Moranis,
and features Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Ernie Hudson in
supporting roles. Ghostbusters was released on June 8, 1984, to
critical acclaim, with Murray's performance often praised, and became a
cultural phenomenon. The film earned $282.2Â million during its initial
run, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1984 in the United
States and Canada, and the then–highest-grossing comedy ever. In 2015,
the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National
Film Registry. With a dedicated fan following, the film's success
launched a multi-billion dollar multimedia franchise, including sequels,
television series, video games, and a reboot of the original.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1780:
Anglo-Spanish War: The Royal Navy gained their first major
naval victory over their European enemies in the war when they defeated
a Spanish squadron in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_St._Vincent_%281780%29>
1905:
Despite being blind in one eye, ice hockey player Frank McGee
set the record for most goals in a Stanley Cup game when he scored 14
against the Dawson City Nuggets.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_McGee_%28ice_hockey%29>
1942:
TWA Flight 3 crashed into Potosi Mountain in Nevada, killing
actress Carole Lombard and all of the other 21 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carole_Lombard>
2016:
After gunmen took hostages the previous night at a restaurant
in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, government commandos stormed the premises
to bring the situation to an end.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Ouagadougou_attacks>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bounden:
1. (dated) Now chiefly in the term bounden duty: made obligatory;
binding.
2. (obsolete) Bound.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bounden>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what
one is trying to achieve. Â
--Paul Nitze
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Nitze>
The Trundle is a hillfort from the Iron Age on St Roche's Hill, north
of Chichester, England. It is built on the site of a causewayed
enclosure, a form of early Neolithic earthwork. Causewayed enclosures
were built in England from shortly before 3700Â BC until about 3300Â BC;
their purpose is not known. A chapel dedicated to St Roche was built on
the hill around the end of the 14th century; it was in ruins by 1570.
The hillfort is still a substantial earthwork (pictured), but the
Neolithic site was unknown until 1925. Causewayed enclosures were new to
archaeology at the time and an aerial photograph persuaded archaeologist
E. Cecil Curwen to excavate the site in 1928 and 1930. These early digs
established a construction date of about 500Â BC to 100Â BC for the
hillfort, and proved the existence of the Neolithic site. In 2011 the
Gathering Time project used radiocarbon dating to conclude that the
Neolithic part of the site was probably constructed no earlier than the
mid–4th millennium BC.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trundle>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1937:
Spanish Civil War: Nationalist and Republican forces both
withdrew after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the
Corunna Road.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_the_Corunna_Road>
1947:
The mutilated corpse of the Black Dahlia, a 22-year-old woman
whose murder is one of the most famous unsolved crimes in the U.S., was
found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dahlia>
1962:
The Derveni papyrus (fragment pictured), the oldest surviving
manuscript in Europe, was discovered in Macedonia, northern Greece.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derveni_papyrus>
1975:
Portugal and the nationalist factions UNITA, the MPLA and the
FNLA signed the Alvor Agreement, ending the Angolan War of Independence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvor_Agreement>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
field of vision:
The area that a person, an animal, etc., can see with its eyes (or each
eye individually) without turning the head.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/field_of_vision>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best
of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
When we look beneath the surface, beneath the impulsive evil deed, we
see within our enemy-neighbor a measure of goodness and know that the
viciousness and evilness of his acts are not quite representative of all
that he is. We see him in a new light. We recognize that his hate grows
out of fear, pride, ignorance, prejudice, and misunderstanding, but in
spite of this, we know God's image is ineffably etched in being. Then we
love our enemies by realizing that they are not totally bad and that
they are not beyond the reach of God's redemptive love. Â
--Martin Luther King, Jr
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr>
Blakeney Chapel is a ruined building on the Norfolk coast of England.
Despite its name, it is in the parish of Cley next the Sea, not the
adjoining village of Blakeney, and was probably not a chapel. The
building stood on a mound or "eye" (pictured) on the seaward end of the
coastal marshes, less than 200Â m (220Â yd) from the sea and just north
of the current channel of the River Glaven where it turns to run
parallel to the shoreline. It consisted of two rectangular rooms of
unequal size, and appears to be intact in a 1586 map. Only the
foundations and part of a wall still remain. A small hearth, probably
used for smelting iron, is the only evidence of a specific activity.
Much of the structural material was reused in nearby buildings long ago.
The ruins are protected as a scheduled monument and Grade II listed
building due to their historical importance, but are not actively
managed. A realignment of the Glaven's course through the marshes
accelerated the ruins' likely loss to the sea.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blakeney_Chapel>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1842:
First Anglo-Afghan War: William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in
the British Army, arrived at Jalalabad as the sole European survivor of
a massacre of more than 14,000 people retreating from Kabul.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brydon>
1915:
About 30,000 people were killed when an earthquake struck the
Province of L'Aquila in Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1915_Avezzano_earthquake>
1972:
Bernice Gera won a sex-discrimination lawsuit against the
National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, allowing her to
become the first female professional baseball umpire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernice_Gera>
2012:
The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground on a reef
and capsized (wreck pictured) off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
walk-on girl:
(darts) A woman who escorts a player to the stage at a darts event.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/walk-on_girl>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 I learned have, not to despise, Whatever thing seemes small in
common eyes. Â
--Edmund Spenser
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Spenser>