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Bejeweled is a 2000 match-three video game developed and published by PopCap Games. The game involves lining up three or more multi-colored gems to clear them from the game board, and was inspired by a similar browser game, titled Colors Game. Originally released in 2000 under the title Diamond Mine as a browser game on the team's official website, Bejeweled was licensed to be hosted on MSN Games under its current name. PopCap released a retail version titled Bejeweled Deluxe in May 2001. Bejeweled has since been ported to many platforms, particularly mobile devices. The game has been commercially successful, having sold more than 10 million copies and been downloaded more than 150 million times. It is credited with popularizing match-three video games and launching the casual games industry, which grew to be worth $3 billion within a decade. The game was followed by a commercially successful series of sequels and spin-offs. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Chapel of St. Cornelius the Centurion

... that the Chapel of St. Cornelius the Centurion (pictured) in New York City was designed by Charles C. Haight, whose father had previously served in the clergy of the chapel's parish?
... that archaeologist Arne Furumark intended to follow a career in business until he visited the British Museum as a teenager?
... that the 2025 book The World After Gaza was deemed "repugnant" and "monstrous" for being both overly and insufficiently critical of Israel?
... that future NFL player Kato Serwanga's family fled Uganda when he was a child after three of his uncles were murdered and his father was nearly killed by Idi Amin's regime?
... that Yew Tee station has a kampong-styled roof and a colour scheme that blends in with its surroundings?
... that the second president of the American Association of Geographers had no formal geography education?
... that the long hair of the Red Yao people in China has become a tourist attraction?
... that Victor-David Mbuyi Bipungu went from being a Catholic priest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to becoming an Anglican bishop in Canada?
... that two full freight cars were swallowed in 1918 at what is now Glory Hole Park?

In the news

James Watson

American molecular biologist James Watson (pictured), co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, dies at the age of 97.
UPS Airlines Flight 2976 crashes after takeoff from Louisville, Kentucky, United States, killing 14 people.
The United States federal government shutdown becomes the longest in U.S. history.
Typhoon Kalmaegi leaves more than 240 people dead in the Philippines.

On this day

November 12

The Battle of Posada

1330 – Led by the voivode Basarab I, Wallachian forces defeated the Hungarian army in an ambush at the Battle of Posada (depicted).
1920 – The Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes signed the Treaty of Rapallo to establish national borders east of the Adriatic Sea.
1940 – World War II: Free French forces captured Gabon from Vichy France.
1970 – The deadliest tropical cyclone in history made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), killing at least 250,000 people.
2011 – An explosion in the Shahid Modarres missile base led to the deaths of 17 members of the Revolutionary Guards, including Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, a key figure in Iran's missile program.

Auguste Rodin (b. 1840)
Liu Shaoqi (d. 1969)
Anne Hathaway (b. 1982)
Stan Lee (d. 2018)

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Today's featured picture

The large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) is a medium-sized hemipteran (true bug) in the family Lygaeidae. It is distributed throughout North America, from Central America through Mexico, the Caribbean and the United States, to southern Canada. It inhabits disturbed areas, roadsides, and open pastures. Due to this widespread geographic distribution, this insect exhibits varying life history trade-offs depending on the population location, including differences in wing length and other traits based on location. Adult large milkweed bugs are around 11–12 mm in length and have a red/orange and black X-shaped pattern on their wings underneath the triangle that is typical to hemipterans. Its diet often consists of milkweed seeds, but it has also been observed feeding on aphids, monarch caterpillar eggs, and larvae, displaying opportunistic behavior. The insect is often used as a model organism and reared for laboratory experiments due to being easy to rear and handle, short developmental time, few instars, and high fecundity. This large milkweed bug was photographed in the Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City, United States.

Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

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