The Ur-Quan are a fictional race of predatory alien caterpillars in the Star Control series of video games, created by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford (both pictured). The first Star Control game introduces the Ur-Quan as leading a galactic empire which seeks to enslave Earth. Their story is expanded in Star Control II, revealing them as former slaves who since vowed to fiercely defend themselves. They also appear in Star Control 3 and The Ur-Quan Masters. Reiche and Ford developed the Ur- Quan based on the concepts for unique spaceships in Star Control; their insectoid appearance was inspired by a National Geographic photo of a caterpillar. Their role in Star Control II has earned the Ur-Quan acclaim as among the best game villains of all time, praised for their menacing persona, as well as their surprising depth and humanity. The Ur-Quan have also influenced other game studios, inspiring concepts in games such as Mass Effect and Stellaris.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur-Quan

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1894:

Rudolf Diesel's first working diesel engine ran for one minute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_engine

1944:

World War II: The U.S. Navy began Operation Hailstone, a massive naval air and surface attack against the Japanese naval and air base at Truk in the Caroline Islands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hailstone

1959:

Vanguard 2 (model pictured), the first weather satellite, was launched to measure cloud cover distribution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_2

2006:

A massive landslide in the Philippine province of Southern Leyte killed over 1,000 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Southern_Leyte_mudslide

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

hobbyist: A person who is interested in an activity or a subject as a hobby. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hobbyist

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Political realism believes that politics, like society in general, is governed by objective laws that have their roots in human nature. In order to improve society it is first necessary to understand the laws by which society lives. The operation of these laws being impervious to our preferences, men will challenge them only at the risk of failure. Realism, believing as it does in the objectivity of the laws of politics, must also believe in the possibility of developing a rational theory that reflects, however imperfectly and one-sidedly, these objective laws. It believes also, then, in the possibility of distinguishing in politics between truth and opinion — between what is true objectively and rationally, supported by evidence and illuminated by reason, and what is only a subjective judgment, divorced from the facts as they are and informed by prejudice and wishful thinking.   --Hans Morgenthau https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hans_Morgenthau