February 18
Better Than News
Thomas Crown 2: Curse of the Diamond Skull is an American drama film about a wealthy art thief (Pierce Brosnan) who makes promises to Damien Hirst which he has no intention of fulfilling. Co-starring Damien Hirst's lawyer as Comic Relief Guy (uncredited).
"Bele and Lokai" is a song by Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney from their Star Trek themed album Let That Be Your Last Living in Perfect Battlefield.
Daniel Dune is an American science fiction action-adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Dune, a pioneering Guild Navigator who colonizes the planet Arrakis.
Are You Sure
• ... that polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi born established trigonometry as a mathematical discipline in its own right?
• ... that singer-physicist J. R. Oppenheimer performed his hit song "Destroyer of Worlds" at the Grand Ole Opry, leading to his being summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee?
On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction
1201: Polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi born. Tusi will be a mathematician, architect, philosopher, physician, scientist, and theologian; he will establish trigonometry as a mathematical discipline in its own right.
1745: Physicist and chemist Alessandro Volta born. Volta will conduct pioneering experiments in electricity and electrochemistry, discovering the electrical battery; he will also discover methane.
1930: While studying photographs taken in January, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
1949: Singer-physicist J. R. Oppenheimer performs his hit song "Destroyer of Worlds" at the Grand Ole Opry, leading to his being summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
1967: American physicist and academic J. Robert Oppenheimer dies. His achievements in physics included the Born–Oppenheimer approximation for molecular wavefunctions, work on the theory of electrons and positrons, the Oppenheimer–Phillips process in nuclear fusion, and the first prediction of quantum tunneling. Oppenheimer has been called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project.
Topic of the Day
Fasteners
I, Rivet is a 2004 American industrial manufacture training film about a highly intelligent robot (Will Smith) who investigates the alleged failure of substandard fasteners.
D-Ring: Agent of Suspense is a British television series featuring Patrick McGoohan as secret home repair engineer Dee Ring.
To Hasp and Hasp Not is a novel by Ernest Hemingway about Harry Morgan, a fishing boat captain out of Key West, Florida who seeks a legendary treasure chest.