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Her Majesty
 June 2 1953 - Elizabeth Windsor was crowned as Queen of England in Westminster Abbey at the tender age of 26. Her reign as Queen actually began more than a year earlier when her father King George VI died on February 6, 1952. Even though she was third in line for the throne at her birth Elizabeth was never expected to become Queen. Her uncle, Edward, Prince of Wales, was the heir presumptive and it was assumed that he would have children of his own to succeed him. However, when her grandfather, King George V, died in 1936, Edward became King, only to abdicate the throne later that year in order to marry a divorced socialite named Wallis Simpson. Upon Edward's abdication Elizabeth's father became the King and she the heiress presumptive. Her reign as Queen, over 59 years to date, is currently the second longest reign as a British monarch. Only Queen Victoria, who took the crown at the age of 18 and ruled for nearly 64 years, has had a longer reign. |
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Striking Out
June 3, 1888 - The poem Casey at the Bat was first published in The San Francisco Examiner. The poem was written by Ernest Thayer but was originally published under the pen name "Phin." The poem tells the story of a baseball team from the fictional town of Mudville, who are trailing by two runs with two outs in their last inning. All their hopes lie on their star player "Mighty Casey" to win the game. But the poem ends with Casey striking out and the crowd going home disappointed. You can read the entire text of the poem here.
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Puzzling Pieces
 June 6, 1984 - Tetris, a puzzle video game designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union, was first released. The game requires players to place various puzzle pieces, each composed of four segments, into a space without leaving gaps. The immensely popular game has sold more than 170-million copies and has been named by Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine as the "Greatest Game of All Time." Research has found that playing Tetris on a regular basis boosts general cognitive functions such as "critical thinking, reasoning, language and processing." You can play Tetris online here.
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"Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out."
- Casey at the Bat, by Ernest Thayer
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Heath is Reading
Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins
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