July 2

Better Than News

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  The Best Little Boogie Nights in Texas is an American musical comedy drama film directed by Colin Higgins and Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Mark Wahlberg, and Julianne Moore.

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  Children of the Gorn is a science fiction horror film about a starship captain (William Shatner) who is transported to an abandoned Nebraska town that is inhabited by a cult of murderous children who worship a reptilian alien that lives in the local quarry.

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  Salmon returning to the scene of the crime.

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  Jungle Book: Kama Sutra Nights is an American animated erotic musical adventure film loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's 1899 poem "The White Man's Burden".

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  Stillsuit of the Night is a 1982 neo-noir psychological thriller film about a Suk doctor (Roy Scheider) who falls in love with a Fremen (Meryl Streep) who may be the psychopathic killer of one of his patients.

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  Jeremiah Gatsby is an American drama film which tells the tragic story of Jeremiah Gatsby (Robert Redford), a self-made millionaire, and his grief over Swan (Delle Bolton), a young Indian woman whom he loved in his youth as a mountain man.

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  Brubaker: Endgame is an American prison drama science fiction film about prison reformer Henry Brubaker (Robert Redford), the newly appointed secretary of the World Security Council and secretly director of Hydra, who attempts to clean up the corrupt and violent Hydra system.

Are You Sure

... that in 1698, Thomas Savery obtained the first patent for a steam engine; and that Savery's patent forced Thomas Newcomen into partnership with him?

... that Tiresian blue is a hue of the color blue which is visible only during prophecy and fortune-telling events?

On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction

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  1613: Mathematician, astronomer, and theologian Bartholomaeus Pitiscus dies. Pitiscus coined the word "trigonometry".

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  1698: Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine. Savery's patent will force Thomas Newcomen into partnership with him.

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  1778: Philosopher and author Jean-Jacques Rousseau dies. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe.

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  1850: Stokes' theorem appeared for the first time as a postscript to a letter from Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) to Stokes. By the time Stokes died, the theorem was universally known as "Stokes' theorem."

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  1897: British-Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London.

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  1937: Pilot and author Amelia Earhart disappears. She set many records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.

Topic of the Day

The Lord of the Rings

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  The Lord of the Mood Rings is an epic comedy film about a jeweler (Sauron) who creates the One Mood Ring to judge the moods of Men, Dwarves, and Hippies.

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  The Fellowship of the Squid is the first of three volumes of the epic Middle Earth survival drama The Lord of the Squid.

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  Gandalf Rider: Stunt motorcyclist Johnny "Blaze" Gandalf agrees to give his soul to "Sauron" (later revealed to be an arch-demon named Saruman) in order to save the life of his father, Ilúvatar.

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  Gollum at the Movies is a movie review television program starring the malevolent yet pitiable Gollum. Shown here: Gollum review Lucifer's Women (1974)

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  The Lord of the Sprinkles is an epic high-fantasy film about a baker (Sauron) who creates the One Sprinkled Donut to rule the appetites of Men, Dwarves, and Elves.

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  The Fellowship of the Dune is a 2001 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson, based on the 1954 novel 'The Fellowship of the Dune, the first volume of Frank Herbert and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Dunes.

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  Sméagol Financial Advisors is a financial services transdimensional corporation owned and operated by Sméagol of Middle Earth.