Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a first-person shooter video game set in the Halo universe. An enhanced remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, the game was released on November 15, 2011—the 10th anniversary of the original title's launch—for Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console, and re-released as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One in 2014. It was developed by 343 Industries, Saber Interactive, and Certain Affinity. Anniversary's enhancements include a high-definition visual overhaul, support for cooperative and multiplayer gameplay via the Xbox Live online service, new and remastered sound effects and music, and extras such as achievements and hidden in-game collectibles. The game is the first in the series to include Kinect support. Critical reception to Anniversary was generally positive, with praise for the updated graphics and ability to toggle between the remastered and original visuals. Complaints included technical glitches, faults with the original game's level design, and the multiplayer mode's implementation. ( Full article...)

• ... that the State Reception Room (pictured) in Olympia, Washington, has what was once the world's largest single-loom carpet?
• ... that after nearly six decades of collecting Inuit sculptures and other art, Jacqui Shumiatcher gifted 1,310 pieces valued at CAD$3 million to the University of Regina?
• ... that the earliest record of the Toronto cocktail is from 1922, when the city of Toronto was under prohibition?
• ... that Andy Boarman ran a popular music store and instrument workshop out of his Hedgesville barber shop?
• ... that pesticides are formulated to kill pests, but may have detrimental effects on beneficial insects such as bees?
• ... that John D. Hoffman was the only member of the Manhattan District to be awarded the Soldier's Medal, the United States Army's highest award for heroism in a non-combat situation?
• ... that based on genetic data, the western oriole and the green-headed oriole are sister species?
• ... that after viewing footage from his 1970 film Serene Velocity, director Ernie Gehr felt nauseated?

• Flash floods and landslides from a tropical depression (satellite image pictured) kill more than 50 people in Vietnam.
• Wildfires in Northern California kill at least 31 people and destroy thousands of buildings and other structures.
• Richard Thaler is awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
• Hurricane Nate kills at least 45 people across Central America and in the United States, primarily due to flooding and landslides.
• Kazuo Ishiguro is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young share the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.

October 15: Global Handwashing Day

• 1529 – The Siege of Vienna ended as the Austrians repelled the invading Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of conquest in Europe by the Ottoman Empire.
• 1888 – George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee in London, received a letter allegedly from Jack the Ripper.
• 1917 – Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari (pictured) was executed by a firing squad for spying for Germany.
• 1997 – In Nevada's Black Rock Desert, Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green set the first supersonic land speed record in the jet-propelled car ThrustSSC.

Marie-Marguerite d'Youville (b. 1701) · Tadeusz Kościuszko (d. 1817) · Elizabeth Alexander (d. 1958)