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The PlayStation is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released in Japan on 3 December 1994, and most of the world in 1995. Sony began developing it after a failed venture with Nintendo to create a CD-ROM add-on in the early 1990s. The console was primarily designed by Ken Kutaragi and his team in Japan, while additional development was outsourced in the United Kingdom. An emphasis on 3D polygon graphics was placed at the forefront of the console's design. The PlayStation signalled Sony's rise to power in the video game industry. It received acclaim and sold strongly; in less than a decade, it became the first computer entertainment platform to ship more than 100 million units. Its use of compact discs heralded the game industry's transition from cartridges. The PlayStation's success led to a line of successors, beginning with the PlayStation 2 in 2000. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Former tin mining pit in Belitung, Indonesia

... that water-filled pits (example pictured) left behind by tin mining activities in Indonesia have become tourist attractions?
... that a senior colonel with 30 years' experience in North Korean intelligence agencies defected to South Korea in 2014?
... that an underground tunnel between two houses in what is now Jugtown Historic District was used to hide fugitive slaves?
... that when John of Montfort was captured in 1341 during the Breton Civil War, his wife took command of the Breton army?
... that Sehome was an incorporated town for only three years?
... that five of the six people killed in the 2011 Cullman–Arab tornado were members of the same family?
... that Ornithoprion was studied primarily using X-rays of its fossils?
... that the author of Oh My Mother! has written about the phenomenon of giving Asian-American girls the name "Connie"?
... that the Campo Valdés Roman baths were rediscovered during the construction of a sewer system in 1903?

In the news

Thierry Neuville

Syrian opposition forces enter Aleppo in the first offensive since the 2020 ceasefire.
Israel and Lebanon agree to a 60-day ceasefire to halt the current hostilities.
In motorsport, Thierry Neuville (pictured) and Martijn Wydaeghe win the World Rally Championship.
In Formula One, Max Verstappen wins the World Championship.

On this day

December 3

Christiaan Barnard

1283 – During the First Mongol invasion of Burma, the fort at Ngasaunggyan was overrun after a two-month siege.
1927 – Putting Pants on Philip, the first official film featuring the British-American comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, was released.
1967 – Cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard (pictured) performed the first successful human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
1979 – Following the result of a two-day referendum, the current Constitution of Iran was adopted.
1990 – Mary Robinson took office as the first female president of Ireland.

Daniel Seghers (b. 1590)
Octavia Hill (b. 1838)
Mary Bell (b. 1903)
Kui Lee (d. 1966)

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Today's featured picture

The mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) is a tropical evergreen tree with edible fruit native to Maritime Southeast Asia, from the Malay Peninsula to Borneo. It is grown mainly in Southeast Asia, southwest India, and other tropical areas such as Colombia, Puerto Rico and Florida, where the tree has been introduced. The fruit is sweet and tangy, juicy, somewhat fibrous, with fluid-filled vesicles (like the flesh of citrus fruits), with an inedible, deep reddish-purple colored rind (exocarp) when ripe. In each fruit, the fragrant edible white flesh that surrounds each seed is the endocarp, the inner layer of the ovary, and is roughly the same shape and size as a tangerine, about 4 to 6 centimetres (1.5 to 2.5 inches) in diameter. This photograph, which was focus-stacked from 22 individual images, shows two mangosteens, one whole, and the other halved to expose the endocarp.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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