November 25

Better Than News

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  Miami Refugees is an American civil unrest reality television series starring two former Metro-Dade Police Department detectives (Sonny Crockett and Rico Tubbs) who have retrained as social workers and now live in the Miami Camps north of New Bay.

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  Raging Casino is an American biographical sports gambling film written and directed by Martin Scorsese.

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  Butlerian Jihad 2: Revolt of the Butlers is an American science fiction comedy film about a former robot who must adapt to life among humans.

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  Circe du Saws is a touring saw-juggling company.

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  Small is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film about Josh Baskin (Tom Hanks), an film star who makes a wish to be "a kid again" and is then reverted to childhood overnight.

Are You Sure

... that physician and physicist Julius Robert von Mayer described the vital chemical process now referred to as oxidation as the primary source of energy for any living creature; but his achievements were overlooked and priority for the discovery of the mechanical equivalent of heat was attributed to James Joule?

On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction

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  1686: Scientist and bishop Niels Steensen dies. He questioned explanations for tear production, the idea that fossils grow in the ground.

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  1694: Mathematician and astronomer Ismaël Bullialdus dies. He was an active member of the Republic of Letters, and an early defender of the ideas of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo.

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  1814: Physician and physicist Julius Robert von Mayer born. He will describe the vital chemical process now referred to as oxidation as the primary source of energy for any living creature; but his achievements will be overlooked and priority for the discovery of the mechanical equivalent of heat will be attributed to James Joule.

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  1841: Mathematician and logician Ernst Schröder born. His monumental Vorlesungen über die Algebra der Logik will prepare the way for the emergence of mathematical logic as a separate discipline in the twentieth century by systematizing the various systems of formal logic of the day.

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  1864: American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.

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  1915: Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

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  1947: Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.

Topic of the Day

Robert Heinlein

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  Strainer in a Strained Land is a 1961 science fiction guide to kitchenware by Robert Heinlein 1.1.

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  The Moon is a Harsh Mistress but You Like It Rough is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer [REDACTED] about a lunar colony's sexual abstinence revolt against absentee rule from Earth men.