The Chaser APEC pranks were a series of comic stunts that targeted the
2007 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Summit, which
occured from 2–9 September, in Sydney, Australia. They were coordinated
and performed by the Australian satire group The Chaser for the
television series The Chaser's War on Everything. The most prominent
prank was the breach of an APEC restricted zone in the heart of
Sydney's CBD on 6 September. Julian Morrow directed a fake Canadian
motorcade, which was allowed through the restricted zone by police and
not detected until Chas Licciardello alighted, dressed as Osama bin
Laden. Although pranks that involved public locations, figures, and
organisations were always a feature of the series, the APEC pranks
yielded unprecedented local and international publicity, both positive
and negative. Some team members faced charges for breaching the APEC
zone, but these were dropped because police had allowed their entry in
the restricted zone. Other less controversial and less publicised
stunts were also shown on The Chaser's War on Everything, with ratings
peaking at almost three million Australian viewers for the APEC wrap-up
episode.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chaser_APEC_pranks>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1660:
The Long Parliament, originally called by King Charles I of England in
1640 following the Bishops' Wars, dissolved itself.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Parliament>
1802:
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson authorized the establishment of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, today the world's largest public
engineering, design and construction management agency.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Corps_of_Engineers>
1926:
At the then-Asa Ward Farm in Auburn, Massachusetts, American scientist
Robert H. Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, a
10-foot (3 m) cylinder that reached an altitude of about 41 feet (12 m)
and flew for two-and-a-half seconds before falling to the ground.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard>
1968:
Vietnam War: American soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in
the Sơn Mỹ village in the Sơn Tịnh district of South Vietnam.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre>
1978:
The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz split in two after running aground on
Portsall Rocks, about 3 miles (5 km) off the coast of Brittany, France,
resulting in one of the largest oil spills ever.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco_Cadiz>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
despotic (adj):
1. Of or pertaining to a despot or tyrant.
2. Acting or ruling as a depot, tyrannical
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/despotic>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of
oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of
the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be
apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of
its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere
instrument of the major number of the Constituents.
--James Madison
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Madison>