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Screenshot of 1977 version

Colossal Cave Adventure is a 1976 text-based adventure game by Will Crowther, based on his own spelunking experience, and expanded in 1977 by Don Woods. In it, the player explores a vast cave system rumored to be filled with treasure and gold, by typing one- or two-word commands. These are interpreted by the game's natural language input system. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's attempted actions. It is the first well-known example of interactive fiction, as well as the first well-known adventure game, for which it was also the namesake. The version by Woods expanded the game in size and increased the amount of fantasy elements present in it, such as a dragon and magic spells. Both versions were spread around the nascent ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet, and were very popular in the computer community. Noted as one of the most influential video games, it was in 2019 inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. (Full article...)

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J. T. Blatty

... that J. T. Blatty (pictured) was a tennis star and US Army captain before photographing military volunteers in Ukraine?
... that Easter in Poland was considered to be an important patriotic holiday during the country's period of Partitions?
... that Jane C. Beck traveled to Virginia, West Africa, and England to research the family history of Daisy Turner for her 2015 book Daisy Turner's Kin: An African American Family Saga?
... that Natsuki Takaya created a sequel to Fruits Basket to promote the release of its collector's edition?
... that after activist Aakar Patel was prevented from travelling abroad, a court asked the director of India's Central Bureau of Investigation to apologise?
... that a special legislative session to deal with the Real Estate Bank of Arkansas was not called because a third of the legislature owed money to the bank?
... that Thihapate withstood the siege of Taungdwin by King Thado Minbya of Ava until after his top commander was assassinated?
... that some barns have hoods?

In the news

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (pictured) is elected as President of Somalia.
In the United States, ten people are killed in a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Ukraine, represented by Kalush Orchestra with the song "Stefania", wins the Eurovision Song Contest.
Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan inherits the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and becomes President of the United Arab Emirates after the death of Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

On this day

May 17: International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia; Galician Literature Day in Galicia, Spain

Coco Chanel

1395 – An outnumbered Wallachian army repulsed invading Ottoman forces at the Battle of Rovine.
1642 – The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal founded Fort Ville-Marie, a permanent mission that eventually grew into the Canadian city of Montreal.
1902 – The Antikythera mechanism, the oldest known surviving geared mechanism, was discovered among artifacts retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.
1947 – After renegotiating a contract with the makers of her signature perfume Chanel No. 5, Coco Chanel (pictured) received a share of wartime profits from its sale, making her one of the richest women in the world.
1974 – The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force detonated a series of car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland, killing 34 people and injuring almost 300 more.

Martin Delrio (b. 1551)
Seth Warner (b. 1743)
Dorothy Levitt (d. 1922)

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Today's featured picture

Altolamprologus compressiceps is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae, endemic to the shallow rocky areas of Lake Tanganyika. The lake holds at least 250 species of cichlid fish, including species yet to be described. Almost all (98 percent) of Tanganyika cichlid species are endemic to the lake, and it is thus an important biological resource for the study of speciation in evolution. A. compressiceps is categorized as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This fish was photographed at the Karlsruhe Zoo in Germany.

Photograph credit: H. Zell

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