It's also become fashionable in the last couple of decades for actors to whisper to signal emotional intensity in a private conversation. They whisper even when IRL there'd be no need to, e.g. if two characters are alone with no chance of being overheard.

What really needs to be made is an adaptation of Harvard Lampoon's "Bored of the Rings."
That, or "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil."

There are several fan edits of the Hobbit films which do a pretty good job of excising all the crap Jackson added, thus bringing the story down to a manageable 3-4 hours. The one I like best is by Maple Films. There are links to downloads on their website.

Trademark will still protect the characters Mickey and Minnie, and the names Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, and prevent them from being used as part of any other company's advertising or corporate identity.

What will be in public domain are the particular graphic expressions, i.e. drawings, of Mickey and Minnie used in the cartoons and illustrations on which copyright has expired, as well as those cartoons entire. These particular graphic representations, and their particular voices, will be able to be sampled and repurposed.

No company will be able to take an illustration of Mickey that is still under copyright and use it as its own logo. No company will be able to call its product Mickey Mouse Condoms or Minnie Mouse IUDs or whatever, as that would still infringe on Disney's trademarks. But you can expect to find Steamboat Willie turning up in all kinds of places.

Isaac Asimov, who besides Science Fiction wrote on topics from the Bible to Shakespeare, famously said that he could read three bad books on a subject and then write one good book on it.

Dark Matter, the beautiful balloon of physics.

If you're comfortable with manually editing a preferences file in XML, MediaTomb is an excellent choice.

The hajj is the granddaddy of pilgimages. It wasn't the first, but it was the first of its size and continues to be teh world's largest annual pilgrimage. Would fear of contracting a deadly disease keep pilgrims, and pilgrim riyals, out of the country? Maybe, maybe not, but clearly the Saudi government doesn't want to take that chance.

The primary definition of esoteric is things that are known only to a small circle, i.e., things that most people don't know about.
That's what the Internet is for, learning about things you don't already know.
Except, I suppose, for those people who only use it to look at pictures of kittens.

...that when most people ask, "How does it work," what they really mean is, "How do I work it?" i.e., they really only want to know which buttons to push to get their desired result. It's like the Automat: you put a nickel in the slot, turn the knob and pull out the sandwich. How the sandwich got there in the first place is of no interest.
Computers are magical objects to most people, inscrutable machines which perform mystical tasks if the propler incantations are performed. And most people seem to like it that way.

After hacking the controls of the DE-STAR a Supervillain demands a ransom of $1 trillion or he will turn the lasers on Earth. Only an International Man of Mystery or a Double Naught Spy can save us from the photonic clutches of, who? Dr. Evil or SPECTRE?"
Coming to a theater near you.

My construction toy was an Erector Set, now long gone. These days Erector Sets in the US are rebranded Meccano sets.
Anyway, the thing about the Erector Set was that it not only exercised your imagination, as does LEGO, but it also exercised your manual dexterity, which LEGO does not. When you have to use little nuts and bolts to put things together you get good at manipulating small parts, which is excellent for improving hand-eye coordination, improving delicacy of touch and learning patience.
If you make things too easy for kids how are they to learn?

If he rats them out maybe he can cut a deal.