Iron Gwazi is a steel-track hybrid roller coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida, U.S. The ride first opened in 1999 as Gwazi, a wooden roller coaster with two tracks in a dueling configuration. It was built by Great Coasters International on the former site of an Anheuser-Busch brewery at the park. Although well received initially, Gwazi became difficult to maintain over time, leading to the closure of one track in 2012 followed by the other in 2015. It remained closed until Busch Gardens, in 2019, announced that Rocky Mountain Construction would transform Gwazi into a hybrid roller coaster. Its two wooden tracks were replaced by a single steel track, with portions of the original support structure reused. The ride reopened as Iron Gwazi on March 11, 2022, becoming North America's tallest, steepest, and fastest hybrid roller coaster. Iron Gwazi received positive reviews from critics and won Best New Roller Coaster in Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards publication.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Gwazi

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1790:

Peking opera was born with the introduction of Hui opera to Beijing by the "Four Great Anhui Troupes" in honour of the Qianlong Emperor's 80th birthday. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_opera

1890:

Sequoia National Park was established to conserve giant sequoia trees in an area affected by logging in the southern Sierra Nevada in California. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_National_Park

1983:

In one of the largest prison escapes in British history, 38 Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners hijacked a prison meals lorry and broke out of HM Prison Maze in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maze_Prison_escape

2005:

Typhoon Longwang, the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit China in that year, formed just north of the Mariana Islands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Longwang

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

altercation: 1. (countable) An angry or heated dispute. 2. (countable, law, historical) An act of posing questions to, and obtaining answers from, a witness in a court of law. 3. (uncountable) Angry or heated disputation. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/altercation

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wisely.   --Christopher Reeve https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Reeve