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Control panel of Computer Space

Computer Space is a space-combat arcade game released in 1971. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in partnership as Syzygy Engineering, it was the first arcade video game and the first commercially available video game. In the game the player controls a rocket engaged in a missile battle against a pair of hardware-controlled flying saucers set against a starfield background. The goal is to score more hits than the enemy within a set time period. The game is enclosed in a custom fiberglass cabinet, which Bushnell designed to look futuristic. Bushnell and Dabney created the game to be a coin-operated version of Spacewar!, a 1962 computer game. They could not economically run the game on a general-purpose minicomputer, so they built specialized hardware for the game. They ran their first location test in August 1971, and it was shown to industry press and distributors at the annual Music Operators of America Expo in October. More than one thousand cabinets were sold by mid-1972. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Gateshead Millennium Bridge, tilted to allow boats to pass underneath

... that Gateshead Millennium Bridge (pictured) is the world's first tilt bridge?
... that Peter Walker choreographed an Oklahoma!-inspired dream ballet for the film I'm Thinking of Ending Things?
... that Ukrainian parties obtained only a fifth of the votes in the 1917 Kiev City Duma election?
... that when Oprah Winfrey was honored at the 2018 Golden Globes, the first person she thanked was Dennis Swanson, the Chicago TV station manager who hired her?
... that the women's wheelchair race at the 2021 Tokyo Marathon featured just two competitors?
... that Angel Joy Chavis Rocker, a guidance counselor with no political experience, was the first black woman to run for President of the United States as a Republican?
... that the Hittite plague in the 14th century BC was the the first documented use of a disease as a biological weapon?
... that Jane Cakebread's 277 court appearances for drunkenness helped bring about the Inebriates Act of 1898?

In the news

1915 Çanakkale Bridge

The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge (pictured), the first bridge over the Dardanelles and the world's longest suspension bridge, opens in Turkey.
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, killing at least four people and injuring more than 225 others.
The Power of the Dog wins Best Film and Best Director at the British Academy Film Awards.
Cyclone Gombe kills at least 53 people in Mozambique.
Yoon Suk-yeol is elected president of South Korea.

On this day

March 21: Oltenia Day in Romania

Poster for the Moondog Coronation Ball

1788 – A large fire destroyed 856 of the 1,100 structures in New Orleans.
1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: At the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube in north-central France, Napoleon suddenly realized that his French army was vastly outnumbered by Allied forces, and hurriedly ordered a retreat.
1952 – The Moondog Coronation Ball (poster pictured), generally considered to be the first major rock and roll concert, took place at the Cleveland Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
2019 – A major explosion at a chemical plant in Yancheng, China, killed 78 people and injured 617 others.

Salvador Lutteroth (b. 1897)
Nobuo Uematsu (b. 1959)
Marina Salye (d. 2012)

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Skyline of Moncton

The 104 municipalities in New Brunswick cover only 10.9 per cent of the province's land mass but are home to 69.5 per cent of its population. New Brunswick is the eighth-most populous Canadian province, with 775,610 residents as of the 2021 census, and the third-smallest province by land area, at 71,248.50 km² (27,509.20 sq mi). Municipalities in New Brunswick may be incorporated under the Municipalities Act of 1973 as a city, town, village, regional municipality, or rural community. In 1785, Saint John became the first community in what would eventually become Canada to be incorporated as a city. Moncton (pictured) is New Brunswick's largest municipality by population, with 79,470 residents, and Saint John is the largest urban municipality by land area, at 315.59 km² (121.85 sq mi). (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The gemsbok (Oryx gazella) is a species of large antelope in the genus Oryx, native to the arid regions of southern Africa, such as the Kalahari Desert. It is depicted on the coat of arms of Namibia, and the total population of the species is estimated at 373,000 individuals. This male gemsbok was photographed in Namibia's Etosha National Park.

Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp

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