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Star Control creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford

The Ur-Quan are a fictional race of predatory alien caterpillars in the Star Control series of video games, created by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford (both pictured). The first Star Control game introduces the Ur-Quan as leading a galactic empire which seeks to enslave Earth. Their story is expanded in Star Control II, revealing them as former slaves who since vowed to fiercely defend themselves. They also appear in Star Control 3 and The Ur-Quan Masters. Reiche and Ford developed the Ur-Quan based on the concepts for unique spaceships in Star Control; their insectoid appearance was inspired by a National Geographic photo of a caterpillar. Their role in Star Control II has earned the Ur-Quan acclaim as among the best game villains of all time, praised for their menacing persona, as well as their surprising depth and humanity. The Ur-Quan have also influenced other game studios, inspiring concepts in games such as Mass Effect and Stellaris. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Seagrass in La Ciotat, France

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... that the 1986 Magic Tour was the last tour Freddie Mercury performed with Queen?
... that even though Robert W. Brady withdrew financial support of the nascent Boston College, he later became its president?
... that the organ in Hastings Unitarian Church had previously been in three other Unitarian churches?
... that Utah & Ether's five-year, 30-country graffiti-tagging tour ended when a single dad got Ether in a headlock?

In the news

Cooper Kupp

In American football, the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl (MVP Cooper Kupp pictured).
Cyclone Batsirai makes landfall in Madagascar, displacing at least 112,000 people and leaving more than 100 others dead.
In association football, the Africa Cup of Nations concludes with Senegal defeating Egypt in the final.
Indian playback singer and composer Lata Mangeshkar dies at the age of 92.

On this day

February 17

Model of Vanguard 2

1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: Napoleon led a French army to a crushing victory in the Battle of Mormant, nearly destroying a Russian division.
1894 – Rudolf Diesel's first working diesel engine ran for one minute.
1944 – World War II: The U.S. Navy began Operation Hailstone, a massive naval air and surface attack against the Japanese naval and air base at Truk in the Caroline Islands.
1959 – Vanguard 2 (model pictured), the first weather satellite, was launched to measure cloud cover distribution.
2006 – A massive landslide in the Philippine province of Southern Leyte killed over 1,000 people.

Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles (d. 1680)
Margot Heuman (b. 1928)
Nestor Chylak (d. 1982)

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Today's featured picture

Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, commenced around 1175 on the site of a late-Roman mausoleum and an 8th-century abbey church. The cathedral has been described by the historian John Harvey as Europe's first truly Gothic structure, lacking the Romanesque work that survives in many other cathedrals. It is the seat of the bishop of Bath and Wells. This photograph depicts the interior of Wells Cathedral's chapter house, built by unknown architects between 1275 and 1310 in the Geometric style of Decorated Gothic architecture.

Photograph credit: David Iliff

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