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Michael Stemmle, the game's lead developer

Sam & Max: Freelance Police was a graphic adventure video game developed by LucasArts from 2002 until its cancellation in 2004. Freelance Police was intended for release for Windows in early 2004 as a sequel to Sam & Max Hit the Road. The game was based on the characters Sam and Max, an anthropomorphic dog and hyperkinetic rabbit, who debuted in a 1987 comic-book series. It was designed as a point-and-click adventure game and used a 3D game engine. The game's development was led by Michael Stemmle (pictured), while Steve Purcell assisted in developing its plot and providing artistic direction. LucasArts canceled production in March 2004, citing economic and market conditions; its cancellation was received poorly by fans of the series and the video game industry media. Journalists viewed this move as a culmination of the decline of the genre of adventure games. LucasArts later terminated its development of the genre, and many of the Freelance Police design team left to create Telltale Games. (Full article...)

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Wood-waste burner

... that 60% of all timber harvested in North America before 1980 was destroyed in wood-waste burners (example pictured)?
... that the Indian government declared Vishwasrao Chowgule to be the wealthiest person in India in 1976 based on wealth-tax statistics?
... that, in the Old Norse saga version of the story of Sir Percival, the nature of the Holy Grail is never explained?
... that Giorgio Valensin wrote an opera while working as a banker in Florence?
... that the Cook Opera House transitioned from opera to vaudeville to cinema before ending as a venue for strippers and dirty comics?
... that singer Kanako Wada washed the uniforms of her college's rugby team while she was a student?
... that Carrie Smith, a leader in the 1933 Funsten Nut strike, was known for picketing while holding a Bible in one hand and a brick in the other?
... that Israeli footballer Shahar Nakav played in the 2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in memory of her older sister, who died of cancer earlier that year?
... that the creator of Punks Triangle came up with the story's concept because she thought men wearing punk fashion were "cute"?

In the news

Tadej Pogačar

In cycling, Tadej Pogačar (pictured) wins the Tour de France.
Cockroach Janta Party–led protests following an exam leak conclude with the resignation of India's minister of education Dharmendra Pradhan.
In mathematics, the Fields Medal is awarded to Yu Deng, John Pardon, Jacob Tsimerman and Hong Wang.
Co-president of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega announces the suspension of the next general election, declaring that the country will no longer have elections.

On this day

July 30

Emmerson Mnangagwa

1916 – World War I: German agents sabotaged U.S.-made munitions in New York Harbor that were to be supplied to the Allies.
1966 – In London, the England national football team won the FIFA World Cup, winning the final against West Germany 4–2 after extra time.
1981 – Amid a widespread economic crisis and food shortages in Poland, up to 50,000 people, mostly women and children, took part in the largest of nationwide hunger demonstrations in Łódź.
2012 – A train fire killed 32 passengers and injured 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India.
2018 – Emmerson Mnangagwa (pictured) was elected to his first full term as president, having served as leader since the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état.

Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin (b. 1914)
Kate Bush (b. 1958)
Claudette Colbert (d. 1996)
Lee Teng-hui (d. 2020)

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Today's featured picture

The Battle of the Somme was fought between 1 July and 18 November 1916 by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. The largest battle of World War I on the Western Front, it was fought on both sides of upper reaches of the river Somme in France. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies. More than three million men fought in the battle, of whom more than one million were either wounded or killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in human history. It illustrated the deadly potential of mechanized warfare that began in the mid–19th century. This map, adapted from an original published by the United States Military Academy, shows the situation during the first day on the Somme (1 July), as well as Allied gains up to 19 November, immediately after the end of the battle.

Map credit: United States Military Academy, edited and vectorised by Grandiose; inset map by Giro720

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