July 1
Better Than News
Tarzan: Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel about an archetypal feral child raised by a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island. Tarzan later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the island as a heroic adventurer.
The Creation of Angel Hair Pasta is a fresco painting by Italian artist Michelangelo, which forms part of the Sistine Chapel refectory's ceiling, painted c. 1508–1512. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God gives angel hair pasta to Adam, the first man.
St. Elmo's Ghost is an American coming-of-age supernatural romance film starring Demi Moore.
Running Man 2: Sprint to Destruction is an American sports action thriller film starring Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Sit is a political horror film starring Clint Eastwood. It is loosely based on the lost short story "Trial Balloon" by Stephen King.
"People Get Roddy" is a 1968 single by the Evolutions, and the opening track on the Planet of the Naked Apes album. The gospel-influenced track was a Curtis Mayfield composition that displayed the growing sense of cinematic and science fictional awareness in his writing.
"O Super Canada" is a song by Laurie Anderson.
Are You Sure
... that physicist and educator Nikolay Basov made fundamental contributions to quantum electronics?
... that the American hip hop plant bioscience group Phytologists With Attitude won a Grammy Award for their song "Straight Outta Pleistocene"?
On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction
1646: Mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz born. He will develop differential and integral calculus independently of Isaac Newton, and design and build mechanical calculators.
1819: Johann Georg Tralles discovers the Great Comet of 1819 (C/1819 N1). It was the first comet analyzed using polarimetry, by François Arago.
1881: The world's first international telephone call is made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States.
2001: Physicist and educator Nikolay Basov dies. He did fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics.
2019: The Custodian says he is "not planning on retiring any time soon."
Topic of the Day
Star Trek
Star Trek Wars is a science fiction buddy comedy film about an angry moisture farmer (Luke Skywalker) and an excessively logical Starfleet officer (Spock of Vulcan) who must learn to work together.
"Tribbles for Ichneumon" is one of the "Forbidden Episodes" of the television series Star Trek. The plot involves the Ichneumon, an alien ambassador from the "Spock's Bug" parallel universe. The Ichneumon requires human host or it will die without progeny, threatening the intra-universe treaty between Insects and Humans.
Spray bottles of colored water refers to a fragmentary scene from an otherwise lost Forbidden Episode of the television series Star Trek.