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Today in History: 16 July

622 – Muslim era begins when Muhammad begins flight from Mecca to Medina (Hijra)

1377 – Richard II aged 10 crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, succeeding his grandfather Edward III

1429 – Joan of Arc and the French army enter the city of Rheims

1661 – First banknotes in Europe are issued by the Bank of Stockholm

1926 – National Geographic takes first natural-color undersea photos

1945 – 1st test detonation of an atomic bomb, Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico as part of the US Manhattan Project

1951 – Novel “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger published by Little Brown and Company

1956 – Last Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey Circus under a canvas tent

1957 – US Marine Major John Glenn sets transcontinental speed record (03:28:08)

1969 – Apollo 11 launched, carrying 1st men to land on Moon

1988 – Landmark Japanese animated cyberpunk manga film “Akira” released, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo

2012 – “The Dark Knight Rises” directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway, premieres in New York

Download Complete! –

1872 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer

1907 – Orville Redenbacher, American popcorn magnate

1911 – Ginger Rogers, American vaudeville, stage, and screen dancer, singer, and actress

1967 – Will Ferrell, American Emmy and Raspberry Award winning comic actor

Unrecoverable Error –

1557 – Anne of Cleves, Queen of England and 4th Wife of Henry VIII

1882 – Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln and US First Lady

1915 – Ellen G. White, American religious leader and co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr, American magazine publisher, lawyer, and son of JFK

2017 – George A. Romero, American-Canadian director, filmmaker, and “Father of the Zombie Film”

The Funnies:

Quote of the Day

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YouTube Song of the Day
Content warning – it’s Eminem

Comic of the Day

xkcd

Mouseover: Einstein’s theories solved a longstanding mystery about Mercury: Why it gets so hot. “It’s because,” he pointed out, “the sun is right there.”

Explain XKCD 2959: Beam of Light - explain xkcd

Image Credit: XKCD xkcd: Beam of Light

Inspirobot Sometimes Controversial Inspirational Quote of the Day:

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In case you missed it, you can find yesterday’s enigmatic Spark by @Lonny6654 over here….

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First?

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World’s best popcorn! It is considered a staple at my house.

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Inspirobot - interesting concept.

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Why has it been 50+ years since we last went to the moon?

And here I thought birds were drones.

Fun fact. I lived on 9 mile, one mile north of… you guessed it 8 mile. :joy:
In honor of Slim Shady https://youtu.be/j5-yKhDd64s?feature=shared

@gurugabe1 @jameswalker20 @Panda-Marie @chrisdavis8

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This is the point that they should have stopped making Batman films…

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I watched Matt Reeves ‘The Batman’ at the weekend and really liked it

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I dont know if there is any point in trying to decipher inspirobot’s quote atp, it is an enigma

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I don’t know how Inspirobot got on the topic, but it seems like it’s referring to marriage, in the traditional order of things. You can construe the outcome from there. I’ve been married 26 years, and our our daughter is 25. You do the math :rofl:

From the wiki-thing: " The New York Times described him as “the agricultural visionary who all but single-handedly revolutionized the American popcorn industry”"

I guess that would qualify him as a “magnate” all right. Can’t argue that at least a couple generations of people in North America recognize that name. Just consistently good quality popcorn. Well, at least until the whole microwave things came along, then all bets were off! Either burnt-flavored popcorn, or a bag full of unpopped kernels, take your pick.

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2017: American filmmaker George A. Romero—who was known for his horror films, notably Night of the Living Dead (1968), which launched a series of related movies—died at age 77.
2004: Chicago officially opened its Millennium Park, which featured fountains, eye-catching sculptures, and a large outdoor concert facility designed by architect Frank Gehry.
1979: Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq, and his brutal rule, which lasted 24 years, was marked by costly and unsuccessful wars with neighboring countries as well as atrocities against the Iraqi people.
1935: World’s first parking meter installed. (Shortly thereafter, the first ticket issued for failing to pay the meter.)
1973: Existence of Watergate tapes is revealed in live testimony
2002: President Bush unveils strategy for homeland security
1918: Romanov family executed, ending a 300-year imperial dynasty

@HulkSmash @panda-marie @lamocon @jameswalker20 @shreddie @jemjules @cooperjs1 @ismoonastar @ich-ni-san @agentofpork

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I got an hour into it, checked to see how long was left, saw it was another hour, realised that I hadn’t paid any attention to it whatsoever, and turned it off… a really dull film.

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Holy crap, I’m older than Will Ferrell!

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There was ONLY one thing I liked from ‘The Batman’.

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She did a great job, the clown they got to play Batman did a horrible job.
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Helped invent burnt microwave popcorn. :skull_and_crossbones:

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IMO The second best Batman film ever made behind The Dark Knight. First Batman movie where Batman was not overshadowed by his enemies, honestly felt like I was reading The Long Halloween all over again. Pattinson was pretty much perfect as Batman, needs a little work as Bruce but I totally get WHY they took the approach they did with Bruce, it gives him a nice character arc to follow across multiple movies.

Given how comic accurate The Batman was (I should say how faithful it was to the GOOD Batman comics, not the ones where he’s invincible and his super power is prep time) I have a ton of faith in Matt Reeves to deliver. Can’t wait for the Penguin series too!

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@HulkSmash 2017 – George A. Romero + Quote of the Day: The bird dives on everyone it encounters. The people run screaming when they see it is a zombie bird. This bird is the hearld of the Dawn of the Dead.

@HulkSmash If that is 9 Mile Road in Detroit, did you ever see the Woodward Ave Dream cruise?

Yes, Mr. Bot, many pregnancies are a result of people going on vacation.

Random oldies:

1970:

Art Garfunkel’s sustained note of MIND, is incredible.

1984:

1990s

@Panda-Marie, @gurugabe1, @chrisdavis8, @agentofpork

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Many many times. I lived in Detroit for 12 years. It was always a fun time. I recall taking water and dropping it behind/under the tires so when they took off the tires would smoke really well. lol

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And let’s not forget the puff of flesh melting superheated steam when opening the bag or the nice drip of the napalm-like clone-butter dripping down your arm…

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I was trying to forget. The scars still itch, sometimes… :rofl:

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I used to like Eminem. Now I like Antifuchs more.

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