The Flood is a fictional parasitic alien life form. Flood-infected
creatures, also called Flood, in turn infect other sentient hosts. They
were introduced as a second enemy faction in the 2001 video game Halo:
Combat Evolved, the first game in Bungie's Halo multimedia franchise.
Their design and fiction was spearheaded by Bungie artist Robert McLees,
with sound design led by Martin O'Donnell. The ringworld setting of the
first Halo game was stripped of many of its large creatures for Halo 2
to make the Flood's surprise appearance more startling. For Halo 3,
Bungie environment artist Vic DeLeon spent six months of pre-production
time refining their fleshy aesthetic and designing the organic interiors
of Flood-infested space ships. Reaction to the Flood has varied; while
some reviewers found the creatures too derivative and a cliché element
of science fiction, others ranked them among the greatest video game
villains of all time.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_%28Halo%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1870:
Representing Mississippi in the Senate, Hiram Rhodes Revels
became the first African American to serve in the United States
Congress.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Rhodes_Revels>
1948:
Fearful of civil war and Soviet intervention in recent unrest,
Czechoslovakian president Edvard Beneš ceded control over the
government to the Communist Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Czechoslovak_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
1994:
Israeli physician Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslim Arabs
praying at the mosque in Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs, killing 29
people and wounding 125 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Patriarchs_massacre>
2009:
Members of the Bangladesh Rifles mutinied at its headquarters
in Pilkhana, resulting in 74 deaths, in addition to 8 mutineers killed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Rifles_revolt>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
stance:
1. The manner, pose, or posture in which one stands.
2. One's opinion or point of view.
3. A place to stand; a position, a site, a station.
4. (specifically, climbing) A foothold or ledge on which to set up a
belay.
5. (Scotland) A place for buses or taxis to await passengers; a bus
stop, a taxi rank.
6. (Scotland) A place where a fair or market is held; a location where a
street trader can carry on business.
7. (obsolete, rare) A stanza.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stance>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
More noise occurs from a single man shouting than a hundred
thousand who are quiet.
--José de San Martín
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_de_San_Mart%C3%ADn>