January 21
Better Than News
Mozart and the Bomb is an epic biographical comedy-romance thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan and Petter Næss, starring Josh Hartnett, Radha Mitchell, and Cillian Murphy.
The Man Who Fell to Montessori is a 1976 British science fiction educational film directed by Nicolas Roeg about an extraterrestrial (David Bowie) who crash lands on Earth seeking a way to ship water to his planet, which is suffering from a severe drought, but finds himself at the mercy of human educational systems and standardized testing.
NOAA is a 2014 post-Biblical drama-science film starring Russell Crowe and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Silence of the Kandorians is a 1991 American psychological superhero horror film about young FBI trainee (Jodi Foster) hunting a serial villain (Ted Levine) who tortures Kryptonians.
Crate Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens about Pip, an orphan boy whose apprenticeship as a carpenter leads to fame and fortune in the box-making trade.
Lick the Painting is a public-awareness campaign "dedicated helping people make the decision to lick art."
Monsters of the Human Head is a 2022 psychological thriller documentary about the joys and horrors of recreational psychosurgery.
Are You Sure
• ... that in 1995, a political scandal resulted in Denmark after a report revealed the government had given tacit permission for nuclear weapons to be located in Greenland, in contravention of Denmark's 1957 nuclear-free zone policy: and that orkers involved in the clean-up program following the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash have been campaigning for compensation for radiation-related illnesses they experienced in the years after the accident?
• ... that the musical film West Side NFT was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10, including Best Non-Fungible Token?
• ... that the Lichnerowicz Commission, formed in 1967, was named after physicist and mathematician André Lichnerowicz; that the commission recommended a curriculum based on set theory and logic with an early introduction to mathematical structures, specifically recommending introduction to complex numbers for seniors in high school, less computation-based instruction, and more development from premises; and that these reforms have been called New Math and have been repeated internationally?
• ... that Nutcoin is a decentralized squirrel currency, without a central nut cache, that can be sent from squirrel to squirrel on the squirrel-to-squirrel Nutcoin network without the need for burying the nuts in the fall and digging them up during the winter?
• ... that the SCORE satellite, launched aboard an American Atlas rocket on December 18, 1958, provided a first test of a communications relay system in space, as well as the first successful use of the Atlas as a launch vehicle?
• ... that the Red Spot Travel Agency was founded by two high school students whose science fair project about travel to the planet Jupiter was awarded a multi-million dollar NASA grant?
On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction
1714: Anatomist and anatomical wax modeler Anna Morandi Manzolini born. Her collection of wax models will be known throughout Europe as Supellex Manzoliniana and be sought after to aid in the study of anatomy.
1869: Mystic and faith healer Grigori Rasputin born. A mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Emperor Nicholas II, Rasputin gained considerable influence in late imperial Russia.
1887: "Mrs Mary Steadman Aldis, has appealed to the City Council to stop the performances of Delo, the woman fired from a cannon at City Hall...."
1899: Physician, confidence trickster, and suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams is born.
1901: Electrical engineer Elisha Gray dies. Gray did pioneering work in electrical information technologies, including the telephone.
1915: Physicist and mathematician André Lichnerowicz born. He will work in differential geometry and mathematical physics.
1959: Project SCORE satellite re-enters Earth's atmosphere.
1967: The Red Spot Travel Agency opens for business, providing travel and tourism-related services between Earth and Jupiter.
1968: A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
Topic of the Day
Cryptocurrency
Tales from the Crypto is an American horror-economics anthology television series about cryptocurrency.
Nutcoin is a decentralized squirrel currency, without a central nut cache, that can be sent from squirrel to squirrel on the squirrel-to-squirrel Nutcoin network without the need for burying the nuts in the fall and digging them up during the winter.