Emacs is a text editor with a comprehensive set of features that is particularly popular with programmers and other technical computer users. The original Emacs was written in 1976 by Richard Stallman, as a set of Editor MACroS for the TECO editor. It has evolved from its dumb terminal origins into something resembling a full blown word processor sporting a complete graphical user interface. A large number of extensions are available which can turn Emacs into anything from a web browser to a tool for writing and compiling computer programs.

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1830 Belgian Revolution: A provisional government in Brussels declared the creation of the independent and neutral state of Belgium, in revolt against the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Revolution)

1910 Manuel II, the last King of Portugal, fled to Great Britain when a revolution erupted in Lisbon and his palace was shelled. A republic was proclaimed the next day. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_II_of_Portugal)

1957 Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, was launched at 19:12 UTC by a R-7 rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1)

1993 Russian Constitutional Crisis: Tanks bombarded the White House in Moscow, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, where demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rallied outside. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_constitutional_crisis_of_1993)

Wikiquote of the day:

"Given the choice between two theories, take the one which is funnier." ~ "Blore's Razor" (Author unknown)