July 8

Better Than News

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  Dungeonville is a 1998 American teen fantasy horror film about two siblings who become trapped in a 1950s TV show, set in a small Midwest town, where residents must obey a mysterious, all-powerful Dungeonmaster (Don Knotts).

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  Alien Bride Nation is an American science fiction action-comedy adventure film directed by Rob Reiner and Graham Baker, starring Mandy Patinkin, James Caan, Carey Elwes, Robin Wright, Terence Stamp, and Christopher Guest.

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  JART is an American rock supergroup composed of Joan Jett and Heart.

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  It's Just a Shot Away is a 2021 film by Jimmy Olsen about the destruction of the planet Krypton, and subsequent events leading to Lex Luthor's defeat of Superman and subsequent conquest of the Earth.

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  The Deleuze Family Circus is a syndicated comic strip about the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze.

Are You Sure

... that physician and surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey pioneered battlefield medicine and triage, and that Larrey is now often considered the first modern military surgeon?

... that Asclepius Myrmidon is a combat surgeon and alleged time-traveler, who is said [by whom?] to have trained Dominique Jean Larrey in advanced surgical techniques?

On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction

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  1695: Mathematician, astronomer, and physicist Christiaan Huygens dies. He was a leading scientist of his time.

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  1766: Physician and surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey born. He will be an important innovator in battlefield medicine and triage, now often considered the first modern military surgeon.

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  1947: The Roswell UFO incident, the (supposed) crash of an alien spaceship near Roswell in New Mexico.

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  1960: Pilot Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.

Topic of the Day

Gumby

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  Michael Claymation is a 2007 American legal thriller film about a film animation studio lawyer (George) who discovers a coverup over the effects of clay animation.

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  Swamp Gumby is a 1982 American superhero clay animation film written and directed by Wes Craven.

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  Moxie is an American soft drink animation franchise, featuring a clay humanoid character flavored with gentian root extract.

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  Loki is an organic golem franchise, centered on the titular green organic clay golem created and modeled by Corky Tale. The character has been the subject of two APTO criminal investigations, a feature-length film, and a self-replicating Senate Permanent Investigative Subroutine virus.