January 11
Better Than News
Philosophical Beasts: Socrates versus Dumbledore is a fantasy adventure film in which Albus Dumbledore tasks Newt Scamander and his allies with a mission that takes them into ancient Greece during the time of Socrates.
Frank Herbert's Groot is a children's adventure book by Frank Herbert which combines elements of his June (credited to Frank Herbert 1.1 "as told to OrbGazer") and the character Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.
Zepsis is a mental condition that arises when the mind's response to lack of Led Zeppelin causes injury to its own perceptions and interpretations.
Are You Sure
• ... that scientist and bishop Niels Steensen (1 January 1638 – 25 November 1686) questioned explanations for the idea that fossils grow in the ground?
• ... that mathematician, cosmographer, and academic Pedro Nunes (11 January 1502 – 11 August 1578) pioneered the application of mathematics to navigation and cartography?
• ... that computer scientist Tony Hoare (born 11 January 1934) developed Hoare logic for verifying program correctness, and the formal language communicating sequential processes (CSP) to specify the interactions of concurrent processes (including the dining philosophers problem)?
On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction
1502: Mathematician, cosmographer, and academic Pedro Nunes born. He will be one of the greatest mathematicians of his time, known for his mathematical approach to navigation and cartography.
1569: First recorded lottery in England.
1638: Scientist and bishop Niels Steensen born. He will question explanations for tear production, the idea that fossils grow in the ground.
1757: engineer and naval architect Samuel Bentham born. He will design the first Panopticon.
1934: Computer scientist Tony Hoare born. He will go on to invent the quicksort algorithm, and make other contributions to computer science.
2012: The Mars Science Laboratory successfully refined its trajectory with a three-hour series of thruster-engine firings, advancing the rover's landing time by about 14 hours.
2017: Dennis Paulson of Mars celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Mars Science Laboratory successfully refining its trajectory with a three-hour series of thruster-engine firings, advancing the rover's landing time by about 14 hours.
Topic of the Day
Water
The Undersea World of Spock Cousteau is a 2021 drama film about a scientist (Leonard Nimoy) who suffers a time-travel brain injury which causes others to believe that he is Jacques Cousteau. Co-starring marine biologist Steven Zissou as "Cuddle Squid".
The Shape of Water Bagels is a 2017 American romantic fantasy cooking film about a mute chef at a high-security government bakery who falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature.
Mesopelagium is a restaurant in New Minneapolis, Canada specializing in seafood from the mesopelagic zone.
"Bridge Under Troubled Water" is a song by Simon and Garfunkel 1.1 about global climate change and sea level rise.
Blunderball is a 1965 British spy film about a secret marine biologist (Sean Connery) who must find two top-secret NATO atomic dolphins stolen by SPRAT.