November 30

Better Than News

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  Only Star Wars in the Building is an American science fiction mystery comedy-drama television series created by Steve Martin, John Hoffman, and George Lucas.

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  Thomas Crown Affair 2: Home Depot Nights is an American neo-noir comedy thriller film about a jaded billionaire (Steve McQueen) who gets his kicks from petty crimes.

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  Napoleon: Rise of the Machines is an epic science fiction historical thriller film starring Joaquin Phoenix, Linda Hamilton, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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  Cetacea Grand Hotel is an underwater hotel owned and operated by whales for human guests.

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  Citrusball is a family of sports involving citrus fruit. Derived from basketball, citrusball is played around the world, with many diverse local variations.

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  Heresy is a rock musical about the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics.

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  Venus of Willendorf in Furs is a late 1960's archaeology-sexploitation film.

Are You Sure

• ... that scientist, inventor, and politician Otto von Guericke (30 November 1602 – 21 May 1686) pioneered the physics of vacuums, and discovered an experimental method for demonstrating electrostatic repulsion?

On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction

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  3340 B.C.: The Solar eclipse of 3340 B.C. occurs. Geometric designs on a stone in Ireland may depict the eclipse; if so, the stone is the earliest known record of an eclipse.

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  1602: Scientist, inventor, and politician Otto von Guericke born. Von Guericke will pioneer the physics of vacuums, and discover an experimental method for demonstrating electrostatic repulsion.

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  1827: Physicist, musician, and academic Ernst Chladni dies. He has been called both the father of acoustics and the father of meteoritics.

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  1835: Writer, entrepreneur, publisher and lecturer Mark Twain born.

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  1888: Electronics researcher Ralph Hartley born. He will invent the Hartley oscillator and the Hartley transform, and contribute to the foundations of information theory.

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  1937: Film director and producer Ridley Scott born.

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  1954: In Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, the Hodges meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap; this is the only documented case in the Western Hemisphere of a human being hit by a rock from space.

Topic of the Day

Robots

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  Boss Dog is an organic golem designed and manufactured by Symbionts Can Do to mimic Spot the mechanical robot dog.

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  "Cats or Robots?" is an episode of the documentary reality television series Who Would Win in a Fight?

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  I, Rivet is a 2004 American industrial manufacture training film about a highly intelligent robot (Will Smith) who investigates the alleged failure of substandard fasteners.

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  On Fox, No One Can Hear You Westworld is a psychological warfare television series waged against the United States of America by [REDACTED].

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  Robot 7 voted Picture of the Day by the citizens of New Minneapolis, Canada.