"Manos" The Hands of Fate is a 1966 American horror film written, directed and produced by El Paso fertilizer salesman Harold P. Warren. Warren also starred in the film, alongside El Paso theater actors Tom Neyman and John Reynolds. The film is best known for having been featured in a 1993 episode of the television comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show based on the premise of mocking B-movies, which gave the film cult status. The plot of the film revolves primarily around a vacationing family taking a road trip to a hotel. After a long drive in the Texas desert, the family is trapped at a lodge maintained by a polygamous pagan cult and they attempt to escape as the cult's members decide what to do with them. Produced as a result of a bet, Manos was an independent production by a crew that had little or no background or experience in filmmaking and with a very limited budget at their disposal. Upon its theatrical debut, the film was critically slammed, and remained in obscurity until its Mystery Science Theater appearance. It has since gained infamy as one of the worst films ever made.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Manos%22_The_Hands_of_Fate

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1649: English Civil War: King Charles I was beheaded for high treason in front of the Banqueting House in London. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England)

1826: The Menai Suspension Bridge connecting the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales, one of the world's first modern suspension bridges, opened. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menai_Suspension_Bridge)

1930: The world's first radiosonde, a device attached to weather balloons to measure various atmospheric parameters, was launched by meteorologist Pavel Molchanov in Pavlovsk, USSR. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/radiosonde)

1948: Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi, political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement, to death with a Beretta pistol at Birla House in Delhi. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi)

1968: Vietnam War: Forces of the Viet Cong and the Vietnam People's Army launched the Tết Offensive on Tết (Vietnamese New Year's Day) to strike military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive)

_____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day:

dichotomous: Dividing or branching into two equal pieces. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dichotomous)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

We do not see faith, hope, and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization. Faith — in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorships. Hope — renewed because we know so well the progress we have made. Charity — in the true spirit of that grand old word. For charity literally translated from the original means love, the love that understands, that does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and wisdom helps men to help themselves. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt)