Lightning is a fictional character from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series. She first appeared as a playable character and protagonist in the role-playing video game Final Fantasy XIII, and reappeared as a supporting character in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and as the sole playable character in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. She was created by Motomu Toriyama, the director and scenario writer of XIII, and designed by Tetsuya Nomura, a regular character artist for the series. Their idea was to create a strong female protagonist who was adept at combat and less feminine than previous Final Fantasy heroines. Lightning has received mixed commentary from critics—much of it relating to her cold personality, which was compared to that of Final Fantasy VII's protagonist Cloud Strife. Some critics saw her in Lightning Returns as underdeveloped and unlikable, while others found her better developed and more human than in previous games. In lists later compiled by video game publications, Lightning was commended as one of the best characters in the Final Fantasy series and in video games as a whole.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_(Final_Fantasy)

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1587:

Anglo-Spanish War: In the Bay of Cádiz, Francis Drake led the first of several naval raids on the Spanish Armada that destroyed so many ships that Philip II of Spain had to delay his plans to invade England for over a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singeing_the_King_of_Spain%27s_Beard

1770:

British explorer James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour (replica pictured), the first European ship to land in eastern Australia, reached the coast of Botany Bay near present-day Sydney. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Endeavour

1903:

A 30 million cubic-metre landslide buried the town of Frank, Northwest Territories, and killed at least 70 of the town's residents, making it the deadliest landslide in Canadian history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Slide

1946:

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convened and indicted Hideki Tojo and 27 other Japanese leaders for war crimes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Military_Tribunal_for_the_Far_East

1997:

The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention went into effect, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons in those countries that ratified the arms control agreement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Weapons_Convention

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

scrape the bottom of the barrel: (idiomatic) To use the least desirable parts of something. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrape_the_bottom_of_the_barrel

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.   --Henri Poincaré https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9