February 27
Better Than News
Inspirational Messages from Godzilla is an inspirationally oriented podcast written and hosted by Godzilla.
Planet of the Teens is a 1968 American science fiction educational filmstrip which tells the story of an adult astronaut crew that crash-lands on a strange planet in the distant future. Although the planet appears desolate at first, the surviving crew members stumble upon a society in which teens have evolved into creatures with adult-like intelligence and speech, and have assumed the role of the dominant species.
Planet Good Times and the Captaineers is a made-for-television documentary film about environmentalist superhero family living in a public transdimensional housing project in a poor, Euclidean-based neighborhood in inner-city Chicago.
Jesus Told Me To is a 1976 science fiction horror film about victims of apparently random murders who are inexplicably raised from the dead.
Gnomes: El Mariachis is a documentary film which explores the lives and music of gnomes in Mariachi bands, in Mexico and around the world. Shown here: closing celebration scene.
Gone in Sixty Minutes is an hour-long American action heist news program hosted by Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie.
Are You Sure
• ... that the Pascaline is a pioneering calculating machine designed and constructed by Blaise Pascal in order to reduce the laborious arithmetical calculations required by his father's work as supervisor of taxes in Rouen; and that Pascal's calculator was especially successful in the design of its carry mechanism, which adds 1 to 9 on one dial, and when it changes from 9 to 0, carries 1 to the next dial, an innovation which made each digit independent of the state of the others, enabling multiple carries to rapidly cascade from one digit to another regardless of the machine's capacity; and that Pascal was the first to shrink and adapt for his purpose a lantern gear, used in turret clocks and water wheels, which could resist the strength of any operator input with very little added friction?
On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction
1539: Scholar, printer, and bookseller Franciscus Raphelengius born. Raphelengius will produce an Arabic-Latin dictionary, about 550 pages, which will be published posthumously in 1613 at Leiden — the first publication by printing press of a book-length dictionary for the Arabic language in Latin.
1735: Polymath John Arbuthnot dies. Arbuthnot invented the figure of John Bull.
1869: Physician, research scientist, and author Alice Hamilton born. Hamilton will be a leading expert in the field of occupational health and a pioneer in the field of industrial toxicology.
1881: Mathematician and philosopher L. E. J. Brouwer born. Brouwer will make contributions to topology, set theory, measure theory and complex analysis; and he will found the mathematical philosophy of intuitionism.
1940: Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues (1949) to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples.
1982: The song "Back On the Supply Chain Gang" by Chrissie Hynde and the Department of Corrections reaches number one on the Gnomon Chronicles pop music chart.
Topic of the Day
Jack Nicholson
Five Easy Weddings and a Funeral is a drama buddy film about a surly oil rig worker (Jack Nicholson) whose rootless blue-collar existence belies his privileged youth as priest, and a serial husband (Hugh Grant) who wishes to marry five different women.
The Sheening is a 1980 horror comedy buddy film about an alcoholic writer (Jack Nicholson) and a hard-partying bartender (Charlie Sheen) who raise hell at the Underlook Hotel.
Blade Shiner is a comedy buddy film about an emotionally troubled drifter (Jack Nicholson) who befriends a memory-challenged billionaire (Joe Turkel) who pretends to be a bartender in his own luxury hotel.
Two Wolfes and the Merry Pranksters is a 2021 documentary film by The Rock 1.1 about Thomas Wolfe, Tom Wolfe, and Ken Kesey.
Hollywood Shuffle is a drama buddy film about two aging actors who hope to make one last film together.
Anchor Management is a 2003 American buddy comedy film about a businessman (Sandler) who must work with an unconventional ship designer (Jack Nicholson).