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Ryan Seacrest, host of the show

The Million Second Quiz is an American game show that was hosted by Ryan Seacrest (pictured) and broadcast by NBC from September 9 to September 19, 2013. For one million seconds, contestants attempted to win trivia matches, and the four top scorers competed in a stepladder playoff for a top prize of $2,000,000. Stephen Lambert, Eli Holzman, and David Hurwitz served as executive producers of The Million Second Quiz. The show helped to promote NBC's lineup for the 2013–14 television season. NBC broadcast a live prime time show for each night of the competition (except during Sunday Night Football), including a two-hour finale. Using a mobile app, viewers could play the game against others and potentially earn a chance to appear as a contestant during the prime time episodes. Critics argued that The Million Second Quiz suffered from a confusing format and a lack of drama. Ratings dropped after the show's premiere. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Twitter's headquarters

... that Twitter's headquarters building (pictured) in San Francisco was built as a trade center for furniture wholesalers in 1937?
... that more than 60 scientific papers authored by mathematician Paul Erdős were published posthumously?
... that an album of collectible cards from the German margarine brand Echte Wagner in 1930 presented a vision of the future that incorporated concepts such as wireless personal phones with screens?
... that the New York City-based fashion label Sandy Liang is inspired by grandmothers in Chinatown, and often features Liang's own grandmother as a model?
... that the Campanile, a bell tower in Portmeirion, north Wales, was built in 1928 using stone from a nearby 12th-century castle?
... that Adam W. Oberlin, the 1917 Republican nominee to be the mayor of Canton, Ohio, went missing and was found seven months later working as a carpenter in Norfolk, Virginia?
... that in 2023 the IFLA named the Biblioteca Gabriel García Márquez the "best new public library in the world"?
... that merry widows like soft bottoms?

In the news

Earthquake damage in Tizi N'Test

An earthquake (damage pictured) strikes Morocco, killing more than 2,000 people.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam is elected as the next president of Singapore.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, a residential fire kills 77 people.
In Gabon, President Ali Bongo is deposed by a military coup shortly after his re-election.

On this day

September 9

John Lennon

AD 9 – During the Germanic Wars, an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius engaged Roman forces at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, defeating three legions within a few days.
1141 – Yelü Dashi, the Liao general who founded the Qara Khitai, defeated Seljuq and Kara-Khanid forces at the Battle of Qatwan, near Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan.
1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: A naval engagement between French and British fleets off the coast of Sumatra ended inconclusively.
1954 – An earthquake registering 6.7 M_w struck near Chlef, Algeria, killing over 1,200 people and forcing the government to implement comprehensive reforms in building codes.
1971 – Imagine, the second solo album by John Lennon (pictured), was released.

Honorius (b. 384)
James Clark (d. 1885)
Gan Eng Seng (d. 1899)
Soňa Červená (b. 1925)

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Today's featured picture

Blairmorite is a very rare porphyritic volcanic rock named after the community of Blairmore in southwestern Alberta, Canada. It is characterized by dominant phenocrysts of analcime in a matrix of analcime, sanidine and alkalic pyroxene, with accessory titanite, melanite and nepheline. It is a leucocratic variety of analcimite. Blairmorite is known from only two geological formations worldwide: the Crowsnest Formation in Alberta, where it is associated with agglomerates and tuffs from explosive eruptions, and the Lupata Gorge in Mozambique. This specimen of blairmorite, found in the Crowsnest Formation, is about 17 centimetres (6.7 in) in length.

Photograph credit: Paul Glombick; edited by Bammesk

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