Satoru Iwata (December 6, 1959 – July 11, 2015) was a Japanese game programmer and businessman who became the fourth president and chief executive officer of Nintendo in 2002. Born in Sapporo, Japan, Iwata expressed interest in video games from an early age and later majored in computer science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He joined the game developer HAL Laboratory in 1980 and became its president in 1993. Joining Nintendo as the head of its corporate-planning division in 2000, he brought growth to the company. A self-declared gamer, he focused on expanding the appeal of video games across all demographics and increasing the market space. He also built a strong relationship with Nintendo fans through social media and his regular appearances in Iwata Asks and Nintendo Direct, becoming the public face of the company. Under his direction, Nintendo developed the profitable Nintendo DS and Wii video game consoles, but the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U dropped net sales by two-thirds from 2009 to 2012, leaving the company with its first operating losses in 30 years. Iwata voluntarily halved his salary as an apology in 2011 and 2014.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoru_Iwata
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1302:
Flemish infantry defeat a large French army near Kortrijk at the Battle of the Golden Spurs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Golden_Spurs
1833:
Noongar warrior Yagan, wanted for leading attacks on white colonists in Western Australia, was killed, becoming a symbol of the unjust and sometimes brutal treatment of the indigenous peoples of Australia by colonial settlers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagan
1921:
Former President of the United States William Howard Taft was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, making him the only person to ever hold both positions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft
1943:
In a massive ethnic cleansing operation, units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army attacked various Polish villages in the Volhynia region of present-day Ukraine, killing the Polish civilians and burning those settlements to the ground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia
1991:
Shortly after takeoff from King Abdulaziz International Airport, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 caught fire and crashed, killing all 261 occupants on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria_Airways_Flight_2120
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
longhauling: 1. The act of travelling long distances. 2. The act of a taxicab driver taking a passenger on a long detour to the destination without consent in order to drive up the fare. 3. The act of transporting goods over long distances. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/longhauling
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
When you consider that there are a thousand ways to express even the simplest idea, it is no wonder writers are under a great strain. Writers care greatly how a thing is said — it makes all the difference. So they are constantly faced with too many choices and must make too many decisions. I am still encouraged to go on. I wouldn't know where else to go. --E. B. White https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/E._B._White