May 18

Better Than News

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  Job Interviewers of C.H.O.A.M. is a science fiction business management novel by Frank Herbert.

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  The Adventures of Baron Tron Munchausen is a science fiction action adventure film directed by Steven Lisberger and Terry Gilliam, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, John Neville, Sarah Polley, and Jonathan Pryce.

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  Palmer Eldritch Overdrive is a science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick and William Gibson.

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  Barflight: The Weekend That Couldn't Land is a 1983 science fiction drama film about an alcoholic astronaut (Ray Miland) who must maintain order aboard a spacecraft full of hard-partying tourists.

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  Mennenn is a 1968 action-perfume thriller film about police perfume detective Frank Mennen (Steve McQueen), who investigates the murder of Johnny the Nose, a Mob frangrancist he was assigned to protect.

Beyond Plausible

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  Lick the Painting is a public-awareness campaign "dedicated helping people make the decision to lick art."

In Other Words

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  Professor Moriarty's Guide to Clickbait is a memoire by Professor James Moriarty, the "Napoleon of Clickbait", about his rise to power.

Are You Sure

• ... that polymath Omar Khayyam was the first mathematician to systematically classify and solve cubic equations using the intersection of conic sections (e.g., a parabola and a circle), providing a general geometric method for all types of third-degree polynomials; and that this advanced beyond earlier work (like that of al-Khwarizmi on quadratics) and anticipated later developments in analytic geometry?

• ... that philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic and political activist Bertrand Russell was also a boxing champion?

Selected Anniversaries

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  1048: Polymath, scholar, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet Omar Khayyám born. He wrote one of the most important treatises on algebra written before modern times, the Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra (1070), which includes a geometric method for solving cubic equations by intersecting a hyperbola with a circle. As an astronomer, he designed the Jalali calendar, a solar calendar with a very precise 33-year intercalation cycle.

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  1711: Polymath Roger Joseph Boscovich born. He will be a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, and Jesuit priest.

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  1822: Photographer and journalist Mathew Brady born. He will be one of the first American photographers, best known for his scenes of the Civil War.

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  1850: Self-taught electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist Oliver Heaviside born. Heaviside will make major breakthroughs in the applied mathematics of electrical engineering; although he will be at odds with the scientific establishment for most of his life, Heaviside will change the face of telecommunications, mathematics, and science for years to come.

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  1872: Philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic and political activist Bertrand Russell born.

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  1902: "Fightin'" Bert Russell defeats Baron Zersetzung with knockout punch in the third round of bare-knuckled boxing at the World Peace Conference.

Topic of the Day

Red

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  2016: Cowries voted Image of the Day by the citizens of New Minneapolis, Canada.

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  The Gnomon Chronicles Society for the Advancement of VALIS (SAV) reminds you — With enough redheads, we can project a beam of pink VALIS light into space, so other worlds know that we have redheads too.

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  Alarmo-Gram NewsGlyph™ of the 2015 Toledo Giant Red Ball rolling down the street in Toledo, Ohio on August 19, 2015.

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  Children of the Burger is an horror-cooking film based on a recipe by [REDACTED].

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  Fatal Recall is a 2021 automotive industry training film about the hidden costs of recalling vehicles. Narration: Sharon Stone, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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  Golden Trump with American Flag Shorts and Magic Wand is a statue of Donald Trump.
  
  I am not making this up (nonfiction).

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  The Inverted Wagon Queen Family Truckster, a spectacular example of stamp misprint resulting from faulty Gnomon algorithm logic.

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  Close Encounters of the Spud Kind is a 1977 supernatural geology film which tells the story of [REDACTED], an everyday blue-collar UFO researcher in Indiana, whose life changes after an encounter with the Devil's potato masher.

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  The Pomegranate cosmos model of the observable how the universe expanded from an initial state of extremely high density and high temperature, and offers a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena, including the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, and large-scale Pomegranate-Like Structures (PLS).

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  "Let The Thing Out"—
  Call on whatever Power you need
  Give yourself up to that Power
  Let your Song, your Poem, burn its way out of your heart