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From today's featured article Ace Books is the oldest active specialty publisher of science fiction and fantasy books (example pictured) and issued many of the best known science fiction writers of the 1950s and 1960s. The company was founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn, and began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns. It soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first science fiction title in 1953; this was a successful innovation, and within a few years, such titles outnumbered both mysteries and westerns. Ace became known for the tête-bêche binding format used for many of its early books, although it did not originate the format. Most of the early titles were published in this "Ace Double" format, and Ace continued to issue books in varied genres, bound tête-bêche, until 1973. These have proved attractive to book collectors, and some rare titles in mint condition command prices up to $1,000. It was one of the leading science fiction publishers for its first ten years, but its fortunes began to decline after the death of owner A. A. Wyn in 1967. Two prominent editors, Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr, left in 1971, and in 1972 Ace was sold to Grosset & Dunlap. It is now an imprint of Penguin Group (USA). (Full article...) Recently featured: Golden White-eye – Jesse L. Brown – National Football League Players Association Did you know... From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the inscription on the stone tablet accompanying the Urkish lions (pictured) is the earliest known text written in the Hurrian language? ... that Mary Barber discovered that natural selection caused penicillin resistance to increase in Staphylococcus bacteria? ... that after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, parts of St Mary the Virgin's Church, Bromfield, Shropshire, were converted into a house? ... that the most widely distributed and commonest rotifer is probably Keratella cochlearis? ... that the Algerian-born tapestry patron Marie Cuttoli displayed works at the 1925 International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts? ... that the "wide-eyed" goddess of North India forms a triad with love-eyed and fish-eyed goddesses of the South?

In the news Typhoon Bopha (satellite image pictured), known as "Pablo" in the Philippines, makes landfall on the island of Mindanao. Borut Pahor is elected President of Slovenia. The Kuwaiti parliamentary election is held amidst boycotts by opposition parties. Ramush Haradinaj, formerly Prime Minister of Kosovo and commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, is acquitted of war crimes. The UN General Assembly approves a motion granting Palestine non-member observer state status. In Formula One, Sebastian Vettel wins the Drivers' Championship for the third consecutive year. Recent deaths: Oscar Niemeyer – Dave Brubeck – I. K. Gujral On this day... December 6: Independence Day in Finland (1917); Constitution Day in Spain 1865 – Slavery in the United States was officially abolished when the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. 1917 – A ship in Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada, carrying TNT and picric acid caught fire after a collision with another ship and caused the world's largest man-made accidental explosion (pictured). 1928 – On the behest of the United States, the Colombian Army violently suppressed a month-long strike by United Fruit Company workers. 1982 – The Irish National Liberation Army exploded a time bomb in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, killing eleven British Army soldiers and six civilians. 1988 – The Australian Capital Territory was granted self-government. More anniversaries: December 5 – December 6 – December 7 It is now December 6, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture Focus stacking is a digital image processing technique which combines the in-focus portions of multiple exposures to give a resulting image with a greater proportion in sharp focus than any of the individual source images. It is used often in macro photography and optical microscopy, such as in this example of bright field microscopy. At the top left are the three source image slices of a diatom microfossil in diatomaceous earth at three focal depths. Opposite those are the contributions of each focal slice to the final image (black is no contribution, white is full contribution). At the bottom is the resulting focus stacked image with almost the entire image in focus. Photos: Richard Wheeler Recently featured: Smoked Atlantic mackerel – Blue-winged Parrot – Leaf tissue structure

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