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Ken Williams, co-founder of Sierra

Homeworld is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Studios (co-founder pictured) in 1999 for Microsoft Windows. The science fiction game follows exiles on a spacecraft-constructing mothership who aim to reclaim their ancient homeworld, encountering pirates, mercenaries, traders, and rebels along the way. The player's fleet carries over between levels, and can travel in a fully three-dimensional space. Alex Garden of Relic served as the game's director, and Luke Moloney was lead programmer. Metacritic lists Homeworld as the highest rated computer game of 1999 and the third-highest on any platform for the year, although critical opinions were divided on its plot and high difficulty. The game sold over 500,000 copies in its first six months, and received several awards and nominations for best strategy game of the year and best game of the year. Gearbox Software purchased the game rights in 2013 and released a remastered collection in 2015. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

S. F. Light examining termites

... that S. F. Light (pictured) disliked using his full name?
... that the second collection of decretals in the Quinque compilationes antiquae was actually compiled after the third collection?
... that Tadeusz Gebethner, a soccer player, bookseller, soldier and resistance fighter, was recognized as a Polish Righteous Among the Nations?
... that pumices erupted by the Protector Shoal volcano in 1962 floated to Australia and South America?
... that the Apollo 12 Solar Wind Spectrometer detected a gas-ion shockwave produced by the impact of the Apollo 13 S-IVB stage on the lunar surface?
... that the fraud that marred Kansas's 1855 territorial legislature elections led many to dub the elected body the "Bogus Legislature"?
... that New York City's Bartow–Pell Mansion became a museum after its operator was restricted from importing and exporting plants?
... that sheep can get less stressed when looking at pictures of other sheep?

In the news

Bernardo Arévalo taking the oath of office

Iran launches missile strikes in Pakistan and aerial strikes in Iraq and Syria, and Pakistan responds with retaliatory airstrikes.
Bernardo Arévalo is inaugurated (ceremony pictured) as President of Guatemala after multiple attempts to obstruct the event.
Queen Margrethe II abdicates and is succeeded by Frederik X as King of Denmark.
Lai Ching-te is elected President of Taiwan.

On this day

January 19

Iva Toguri

1419 – Hundred Years' War: The siege of Rouen ended with English troops capturing the city from Norman French forces.
1909 – A deed was recorded for David Hanbury to sell Island No. 2 in northern California to his brother John for $10 ($326.00 in 2022).
1977 – Iva Toguri (pictured), convicted of treason for broadcasting Japanese propaganda, was granted a full pardon by U.S. president Gerald Ford.
1996 – A tank barge and a tug grounded on a beach in Rhode Island, causing a spill of an estimated 828,000 U.S. gallons (3,130,000 L) of home heating oil.
2006 – In the deadliest aviation accident in Slovak history, an Antonov An-24 operated by the Slovak Air Force crashed in northern Hungary, killing 42 of the 43 people on board.

Giuseppe Millico (b. 1737)
Sophie Taeuber-Arp (b. 1889)
Choor Singh (b. 1911)
Sarah Burke (d. 2012)

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Northern pika

Ochotonids, colloquially known as pikas, are members of the family Ochotonidae, which consists of small mammals in the order Lagomorpha. They are widespread throughout Asia and western North America, and are generally found in grassland, shrubland, and rocky biomes. Pikas are all roughly the same shape and size, with no tails, ranging from the 11 cm (4 in) long Gansu pika to the 29 cm (11 in) long northern pika (pictured). No species have population estimates and many have not yet had their conservation status evaluated, though the Helan Shan pika, Hoffmann's pika, Ili pika, and Koslov's pika are considered endangered. The 29 extant species of Ochotonidae are contained within a single genus, Ochotona, though that genus is sometimes split into four subgenera: Alienauroa, Conothoa (mountain pikas), Ochotona (shrub-steppe pikas), and Pika (northern pikas). (Full list...)

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Billy Bowlegs (real name: Holata Micco, meaning Alligator Chief) (c. 1810 – 1859) was an important leader of the Seminoles in Florida during the Second Seminole War. He was the remaining Seminoles' most prominent chief during the Third Seminole War, in which he led the Seminoles' last major resistance against the United States government. With the possibilities of military victory dwindling, he finally agreed to relocate with his people to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in 1858. As part of the settlement he was paid $6,500 plus $1,000 each for the subchiefs and $100 each for the women and children who went with him. This lithograph of Bowlegs was produced by an unknown engraver in around 1865–1870, based on an original work by Julian Vannerson.

Lithograph credit: unknown engraver / Rice Rutter & Co.; after Julian Vannerson; restored by Adam Cuerden

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