April 7
Better Than News
Sushi Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 American science fiction black comedy film about an everyday short-order cook in Indiana whose life changes after an encounter with a UFO.
Oliver! is a 1985 American political comedy film about a Marine Corps officer (Oliver North) who poses as an orphan in order to expose an illegal weapons trafficking operation.
The Three Stigmata of Philosophical Zombies is a 1964 philosophy textbook by American sociologist Philip K. Dick.
Moby-Cthulhu is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge against Moby-Cthulhu, the supernatural sea monster that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's soul at the knee.
The Birth of Alienation is a film prank in which the historic film The Birth of a Nation is temporarily replaced by a high-budget spoof version.
Metaphysical Vice is a police procedural religious poetry television series starring John Donne and Don Johnson.
Astronaut Farm is a 1954 aerospace political animal husbandry film set aboard the Eric Arthur Blair Memorial Space Station.
Suddenly Satellite is an advanced orbital satellite control system which also functions as a salad spinner.
Are You Sure
• ... that April 7 is National Abuse of Notation Day in the United States; and that while Canada does not have an official Abuse of Notation Day, the phrase "Every Day is Abuse of Notation Day" is often attributed to the mathematician-comedians of New Minneapolis, Canada?
• ... that computer scientist Donald Sarason pioneered the abstract treatment of contractive containment and established a fruitful connection between the spaces Hb and the ranges of certain Toeplitz operators?
• ... that astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher Hasan Tahsini (7 April 1811 – 3 July 1881) was first rector of the newly established Istanbul University, where he gave lectures on physics, astronomy and psychology; that in one experiment, Tahsini placed a pigeon underneath a glass bell and emptied the receptacle, suffocating the pigeon; that conservatives considered Tahsini's experiment as evidence of witchcraft; and that Tahsini was declared a heretic through a fatwa, dismissed from the university, and forbidden to give lectures?
• ... that physicist and academic Petrus Leonardus Rijke (11 July 1812 – 7 April 1899) explored the physics of electricity, and is known for the Rijke tube, which turns heat into sound by creating a self-amplifying standing wave?
On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction
1811: Astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher Hasan Tahsini born. He will become one of the most prominent scholars of the Ottoman Empire of the 19th century.
1899: Physicist and academic Petrus Leonardus Rijke dies. He explored the physics of electricity, and is known for the Rijke tube (which turns heat into sound, by creating a self-amplifying standing wave).
2014: Mathematician and academic Tim Cochran born. He will contribute to topology, especially low-dimensional topology, the theory of knots and links and associated algebra.
2009: Game designer Dave Arneson dies. He co-created the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Gary Gygax.
Topic of the Day
Dune
The Dune Knight is 2008 action-ecology film starring Christian Bale and Timothée Chalamet.
The Fremen is a 2022 American superhero film about a dispossessed aristocrat (Robert Pattinson) who uncovers corruption in the Gotham Water Department while investigating the Sprinkler, a water thief who is targeting Gotham's elite.
2001: A Spice Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction stoner buddy film about an intelligent computer (Douglas Rain) who befriends a dispossessed aristocrat (Paul Atreides).
Tleilaxu Face Music is a short documentary film about recent advanced in synthesizer technology.
Dune, Where's My Cargo? is a science fiction comedy stoner film about Paul Atreides (Ashton Kutcher), who finds himself unable to remember where he parked his spice crawler after a night of Water of Life recklessness.