November 5

Stained Glass Sam Shepard.

Better Than News

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  The Hunt for Rocky Horror is a submarine comedy spy horror film starring Tim Curry and Sean Connery.

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  Conan Recall is an epic science fiction sword and sorcery film directed by John Milius and Paul Verhoeven and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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  Shine Club is a black comedy horror film directed by David Fincher and Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter.

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  The Willy Wonka Picture Show is an American musical comedy horror-fantasy film directed by Jim Sharman and Mel Stuart, starring Gene Wilder and Tim Curry.

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  2001: A Spice Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction stoner buddy film about an intelligent computer (Douglas Rain) who befriends a dispossessed aristocrat (Paul Atreides).

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  A Few Good Algorithms is a 1992 American legal computational complexity drama film directed by Rob Reiner and Andrey Kolmogorov, starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon.

Beyond Plausible

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  Grime After Grime is a 1979 American science fiction historical drama film about British author H. G. Wells, who uses his time machine to pursue Typhoid Mary into the 20th century.

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  Iron Mannix is an American superhero detective television series starring Mike Connors and Robert Downey Jr.

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  Disco Oubliette is a 2022 American historical musical television series hosted by Disco Stu.

In Other Words

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  "Something Wicked In This Way She Moves" is a song by George Harrison and Ray Bradbury.

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  "Shall I compare thee to Prell shampoo?" is one of the least-known of the 155 sonnets written by the English playwright, poet, and hair stylist William Shakespeare.

Are You Sure

• ... that physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell made fundamental discoveries which helped usher in the era of modern physics, laying the foundation for special relativity and quantum mechanics?

• ... that 2001: A Spice Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction stoner buddy film about an intelligent computer (Douglas Rain) who befriends a dispossessed aristocrat (Paul Atreides)?

Selected Anniversaries

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  1647: Mathematician and astronomer Vincentio Reinieri dies. Reinieri will revise and finish the work of Galileo, who before his death will place all of the papers containing his observations and calculations in Reinieri's hands.

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  1780: Army officer, trader, and lecturer John Cleves Symmes, Jr. born. He will invent a variant of the (now-discredited) Hollow Earth Theory, with openings to the inner world at the poles.

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  1800: Mathematician, astronomical and scientific instrument maker Jesse Ramsden dies. His reputation was built on the engraving and design of dividing engines which allowed high accuracy measurements of angles and lengths in instruments. He produced instruments for astronomy that were especially well-known for maritime use where they were needed for the measurement of latitudes and for his surveying instruments which were widely used for cartography and land survey.

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  1849: Polymath, diplomat, jurist, and politician Rui Barbosa born. He will authorize the destruction of most government records relating to slavery, "erasing the stain" of slavery on Brazilian history, yet preventing any possible indemnization of the former slave-owners.

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  1879: Physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell dies. His discoveries helped usher in the era of modern physics, laying the foundation for such fields as special relativity and quantum mechanics.

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  1975: Author and illustrator Richard Sharpe Shaver dies. He wrote stories in which he claims that he had personal experience of a sinister, ancient civilization that harbors fantastic technology in caverns under the earth.

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  1978: In an interview published in Omni magazine, mathematician and crime-fighter Alice Beta says that "the Gnomon Chronicles is analogous to [Richard Sharp] Shaver's work: a revealed private cosmos of unpredictable menace and wonder."

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  2015: NASA announced that data from the MAVEN probe shows that the deterioration of Mars’ atmosphere increases significantly during solar storms.

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  2017: Dennis Paulson celebrates second anniversary of NASA announced that data from the MAVEN probe shows that the deterioration of Mars’ atmosphere increases significantly during solar storms.

Topic of the Day

Twitter

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  Tweet is a 1981 neo-noir action social media film by Michael Mann 1.1 about a thief and retired Twitter influencer (James Caan) who is forced to post one last tweet.

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  Twitter is a billion-headed bird chirping on the Internet. Twitter is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell [ACCOUNT SUSPENDED].