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From today's featured article

Steve Davis

The 1988 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament held from 16 April to 2 May 1988 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, it was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1987–88 snooker season and the twelfth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible since 1977. At Preston Guild Hall, 113 players competed in a qualifying event, 16 of whom reached the final to join the 16 invited seeded players. The tournament was broadcast in the UK by the BBC, and was sponsored by cigarette brand Embassy. The winner received £95,000 from the prize fund of £475,000. Defending champion Steve Davis (pictured), who had previously won the championship four times, met Terry Griffiths, the 1979 champion, in the best-of-35-frames final. Davis won 18–11, after being level at 8–8 at the end of the first day. The event's highest break was 140 by Steve James, and there were 18 century breaks during the championship. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Atari 810 floppy disk drive

... that the first drive available for the Atari 8-bit family, the Atari 810 floppy disk drive (pictured), was described as "noisy, slow and inefficient", with "notoriously poor speed regulation"?
... that one can place 16 pawns on a chessboard such that no three pawns lie on the same line?
... that Mauatua married the Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and ensured women on Pitcairn were given the vote?
... that the board game Cytosis was endorsed by the Journal of Cell Science?
... that Óscar Catacora directed Wiñaypacha (Eternity), the first Peruvian film in the Aymara language?
... that Asa Taccone was paid just $60 for co-editing and co-writing the Lonely Island's "Dick in a Box"?
... that filmmaker Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany, has seen the return of many species of bird and plant, as well as pine martens, stoats and otters, to his ancestral lands with rewilding?
... that the black swamp in Claremont Park was believed to be inhabited by evil spirits and was known to have consumed cattle?

In the news

Zach Collaros

A fuel tanker explodes in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, killing at least 60 people.
In Canadian football, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to win the Grey Cup (MVP Zach Collaros pictured).
In motor racing, Max Verstappen wins the Formula One World Championship, while Mercedes win the constructors' title.
In the final independence referendum, New Caledonia overwhelmingly rejects independence from France amid a boycott from independence parties.

On this day

December 15

Adolf Eichmann on trial

687 – Sergius was elected pope, ending the last disputed period of sede vacante during the Byzantine Papacy.
1025 – Constantine VIII became the sole Byzantine emperor, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor.
1946 – U.S.-backed Iranian troops brought an end to the Iran crisis when they marched on the breakaway Republic of Mahabad and recaptured the territory.
1961 – Former Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann (pictured) was sentenced to death after being found guilty on fifteen criminal charges, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
1981 – The Iraqi Shia Islamist group al-Dawa carried out one of the first modern suicide bombings, targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, resulting in 61 deaths and 110 injuries.

David Teniers the Younger (bapt. 1610)
Florence Jepperson Madsen (b. 1886)
Vallabhbhai Patel (d. 1950)

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Today's featured picture

Kabukichō is an entertainment and red-light district in the special ward of Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan. The location of many host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, the district is often called the "Sleepless Town", and includes Shinjuku Golden Gai, famous for its plethora of small bars. This photograph depicts the Kabukichō Ichiban-gai gate, with numerous colorful neon street signs visible in the background.

Photograph credit: Basile Morin

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