December 6

Better Than News

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  Always Looping Home is a 1985 science fiction anthropology novel by American author Ursula K. LeGuin. It was adapted for film in 2012.

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  Natural Born U.S. Marshals is romantic crime action film directed by Oliver Stone and Stuart Baird, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Juliette Lewis.

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  Drapes and Carpet is a historical drama film about Jonathan Drapes and Elias Carpet, two celebrity lawyers who become laughingstocks of the Federation of Planets after a freak time-travel accident.

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  Two Men Who Fell to Earth is a British-American film about two men (Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks) who wake up feeling strangely relaxed. Are they living the good life, California style? Or are they puppets of an alien rock star? Directed by David Bowie.

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  Memoirs of an Impacting Asteroid is an album by singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist Mariah Carey.

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  The Off-World Candy Agency is a provisionally licensed transdimensional corporation which manufactures traditional Earth-based candies for the low Earth orbit market. Shown here: Boston Baked Beans candy orbital factory.

Beyond Plausible

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  Sewers of Dune is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, Kevin Eastman, and Peter Laird about four genetically-mutated ninja turtles who must adapt to life on the desert planet Arrakis.

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  "Some Kind of Renewable" is a song by Grand Funk Railroad and the U.S. Department of Energy.

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  Devil's Advocate 2: Pleading Cases is an American supernatural legal comedy-horror film starring Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, and Al Pacino, and directed by Taylor Hackford and John Landis.

In Other Words

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  The Man Who Fell to Citrus is a 1976 science fiction foodie film directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring David Bowie, Rip Torn, and Candy Clark.

Are You Sure

• ... that physicist Clyde Cowan (6 December 1919 – 24 May 1974), together with colleague Frederick Reines, conducted the 1956 experiment which later demonstrated the existence of the neutrino; and that Reines received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995 for the discovery of the neutrino in both their names, as Nobel prizes are only awarded to the living?

Selected Anniversaries

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  1586: Astronomer and physicist Niccolò Zucchi born. He will publish works on astronomy, optics, mechanics, and magnetism.

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  1788: Astronomer and mathematician Nicole-Reine Lepaute dies. She predicted the return of Halley's Comet, calculated the timing of a solar eclipse, and constructed a group of catalogs for the stars.

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  1919: Physicist Clyde Cowan born. Cowan, along with Frederick Reines, will discover the neutrino in 1956; Reines will receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995 in both their names.

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  1959: Mathematician Erhard Schmidt dies. He made important contributions to functional analysis and modern set theory.

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  2006: NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.

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  2017: Dennis Paulson of Mars celebrates the eleventh anniversary of NASA revealing photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.

Topic of the Day

Insects

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  Bee Squad is a television show about an optimistic young beekeeper (Jason Statham) on a mission to save the Earth.

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  The Terroir is a 2007 novel by Mason S. Minds which tells a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's search for the fabled Northwest Vineyards. Plagued by starvation, illness, and cheap merlot, Franklin and his men are stalked across the bleak Arctic landscape by the Phylloxerum, a supernaturally cold-resistant swarm of vine-eating parasites.

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  When You Wish Upon Astaire is a 2021 film about an aspiring entomology student (Fred Astaire) and his thesis advisor (Jiminy Cricket).