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Smash Hit is a 2014 rail-shooter video game developed and published by the Swedish indie game studio Mediocre. Through the game's twelve levels, the player takes a first-person perspective, shooting metal balls to destroy glass obstacles. The player can also shoot up to five balls at once by smashing a consecutive sequence of crystals and gather power-ups that are activated for a limited amount of time. The game also features a one-time in-game purchase that allows the player to start from any unlocked checkpoint. The game's development team consisted of Dennis Gustafsson, Henrik Johansson, and Douglas Holmquist. A virtual reality adaptation of the game was released for platforms in 2015 and 2018. Smash Hit received positive acclaim from reviewers, who praised its physics engine, graphics, music, and sound effects. CNET and Apple listed it as one of the best mobile games of 2014. Gustafsson and Holmquist later worked on Teardown after Mediocre closed in 2017. (Full article...)

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January 12: Zanzibar Revolution Day in Tanzania (1964)

Comet McNaught

1659 – The fort at Allahabad was surrendered to the forces of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Natal Native Contingent and British troops defeated Zulu forces in the Action at Sihayo's Kraal.
1899 – During a storm, the crew of Lynmouth Lifeboat Station transported their 10-ton lifeboat 15 mi (24 km) overland in order to rescue a damaged schooner.
1967 – Seventy-three-year-old psychology professor James Bedford became the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.
2007 – Comet McNaught (pictured) reached perihelion, becoming the brightest comet in over 40 years, with an apparent magnitude of −5.5.

John Singer Sargent (b. 1856)
Laura Adams Armer (b. 1874)
Princess Patricia of Connaught (d. 1974)

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John Henry Turpin (1876–1962) was a sailor in the United States Navy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was one of the first African-American chief petty officers in the U.S. Navy, becoming a chief gunner's mate on the cruiser Marblehead in 1917. He was transferred to the Fleet Reserve in 1919 and retired in 1925. He is also notable for surviving the catastrophic explosions of two U.S. Navy ships: USS Maine in 1898, and USS Bennington in 1905.

Photograph credit: unknown photographer; restored by Adam Cuerden

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