4chan is an English-language imageboard website based on the Japanese Futaba Channel. Launched on October 1, 2003 by "moot" (allegedly "Christopher Poole"), its boards are primarily used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime. Users generally post anonymously, and the site has been linked to Anonymous culture and Project Chanology. The Guardian describes 4chan as "at once brilliant, ridiculous and alarming". The "/b/" board is by far 4chan's most popular forum. It is known as the "random" board; there are minimal rules on posted content. It is thus notorious on the Internet; Gawker.com once claimed in jest that "reading /b/ will melt your brain". The site has generated broad media attention, and its members have been responsible for the formation and popularization of Internet memes such as lolcats, rickrolling, and the popularity of the Tay Zonday song "Chocolate Rain". It has also received media attention for its attacks against other websites and Internet users, and for the threats of real world violence that have been posted on it.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4chan
_________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1301:
The Árpád dynasty, who ruled in Hungary since the late 9th century, ended with the death of King Andrew III. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81rp%C3%A1d_dynasty)
1724:
Philip V, the first Bourbon ruler of Spain, abdicated the throne to his eldest son Louis. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_V_of_Spain)
1761:
The Afghans led by Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the French-supplied and trained Maratha troops at the Third Battle of Panipat in Panipat, present-day Haryana, India. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Panipat_(1761)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Panipat_%281761%29 )
1814:
Sweden and Denmark–Norway signed the Treaty of Kiel, whereby Frederick VI of Denmark, a loser in the Napoleonic Wars, ceded Norway to Sweden in return for the Swedish holdings in Pomerania. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Kiel)
2004:
The national flag of Georgia, the so-called Five Cross Flag, was restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Georgia_(country)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Georgia_%28country%29 )
_______________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
photogenic (adj) 1. Generated or caused by light. 2. Producing or emitting light, phosphorescent. 3. Looking good when photographed. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/photogenic)
______________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
At no time are we ever in such complete possession of a journey, down to its last nook and cranny, as when we are busy with preparations for it. After that, there remains only the journey itself, which is nothing but the process through which we lose our ownership of it. --Yukio Mishima (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima)