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The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. It consists of a white, black, and brown box that connects to a television set, and two controllers attached by wires. It can display three square dots and one line on the screen in monochrome black and white; players place plastic overlays on the screen to display additional visual elements. Ralph H. Baer conceived the console in August 1966 and his team at Sanders Associates developed it. Magnavox agreed to produce it in January 1971 and released it in September 1972, selling 69,000 units in its first calendar year and 350,000 by its discontinuation in 1975. A series of lawsuits spanning 20 years, based on patents for the system and its games by Baer and the other developers, earned Sanders and Magnavox over US$100 million. Its release marked the beginning of the first generation of video game consoles and spawned the Odyssey series, which includes a set of dedicated consoles and the 1978 Magnavox Odyssey 2. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Kauai Plantation Railway train

... that when construction began on the Kauai Plantation Railway (pictured), "nobody in the crew knew how to build a train track"?
... that Saudi Arabian historian Sa'd ibn Junaydil took high school graduation exams with his students, as he had yet to obtain a high school diploma?
... that Chloe Bailey dances next to a leopard in the music video for her song "Treat Me"?
... that Twyla Tharp's ballet Nine Sinatra Songs, to songs sung by Frank Sinatra, features ballroom dance-inspired choreography?
... that the illustrations in the 1992 video game Tetris Classic are based on scenes from Alexander Pushkin's poem Ruslan and Ludmila?
... that Riddick Parker increased his weight by 26 pounds (12 kg) because he was regarded as "small" for a defensive end, at 274 pounds (124 kg)?
... that temples served as banks in ancient Rome?
... that artist Thomas Eakins remarked "I think you've got a heap of impudence" upon receiving the Temple Gold Medal for his portrait Archbishop William Henry Elder?

In the news

Charles III

Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms, dies at the age of 96 and is succeeded by her son King Charles III (pictured).
Liz Truss succeeds Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes China's Sichuan province, leaving at least 93 people dead.

On this day

September 12

Orchestra and choir assembled to perform Mahler's Symphony No. 8

1910 – Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire and popularly known as the "Symphony of a Thousand", was first performed in Munich (1916 performers pictured).
1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army began the Battle of Edson's Ridge in an effort to retake Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands from the Allies.
1962 – In a speech at Rice Stadium in Houston, U.S. president John F. Kennedy reiterated an aspiration to land a man on the Moon before 1970.
1977 – South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died after being beaten in police custody in Port Elizabeth.
2003 – Typhoon Maemi, the strongest recorded typhoon to strike South Korea, made landfall near Busan.

Carl Eytel (b. 1862)
Grace Macurdy (b. 1866)
Irène Joliot-Curie (b. 1897)

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From today's featured list

Common loon

The birds of Ontario include all the bird species recorded in the Canadian province of Ontario as determined by the Ontario Bird Records Committee (OBRC). As of July 2020, there were 501 species on this list, 291 of which are known to breed in the province. Ontario has a considerable variety of bird species. One of the factors in this diversity is the size and range of environments in Ontario. Another is the Great Lakes; many birds use the shores as a stopping point during migration. The OBRC Checklist divides the province into the Lowlands, Central, and South review zones and requests documentation of sightings of birds which are rare or accidental in one, two, or all of the zones. Of the 501 species on the list, 168 are noted as rare anywhere in the province and another 108 are rare in one or two of the zones. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The spiny-cheeked honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis) is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae, the honeyeaters, and the only species in the monotypic genus Acanthagenys. It is large for a honeyeater, ranging from 22 to 27 centimetres (8.7 to 10.6 in) in length and weighing around 52 grams (1.8 oz). A common species throughout most of Australia, the birds are sociable and aggressive, and often observed foraging in large flocks. This spiny-cheeked honeyeater was photographed near Patchewollock in the Australian state of Victoria.

Photograph credit: John Harrison

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