April 11
Better Than News
Dirty HAL 9000 is a 1971 American neo-noir science fiction action thriller film about San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Computer "Dirty" HAL 9000, who is notorious for his unorthodox, violent and ruthless methods against the criminals and killers he is assigned to detect and report.
Keebler Impact is an action-thriller film about a food poisoning victim (Sondra Locke) who seeks revenge on the Keebler elves by killing them one by one, and the police inspector (Clint Eastwood) who is tasked with tracking her down.
Eat at the Speed of Light is a short documentary film describing theoretical principles of eating food at nearly the speed of light.
The Devil Runs NASA is an American comedy-drama documentary film starring Meryl Streep as a powerful NASA executive, and Anne Hathaway as a space suit designer.
The Six Million Dollar Manikin is an American science fiction and fashion television series about a former menswear designer, USAF Colonel Steve Austin (Lee Majors). After a Paris Fashion Week runway accident, Austin is rebuilt with bionic implants which give him superhuman fashion sense.
Hamlet is a 1979 science fiction horror film written and directed by Ridley Scott and based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare.
Cocaine A.I. is a 2023 science fiction horror film about an artificial intelligence which goes on a cocaine-fueled rampage.
Beyond Plausible
Papal Impact is a 1983 drama-religion film about modern yet devout Pope (Francis) who decides to seek revenge on the criminals who stole his online identity by doxxing them one by one.
"I Want to Turku Higher" is a song by Sly and the Family Stone sung entirely in Finnish.
In Other Words
2001: A Wafer Odyssey is a short industry training film produced by the Interplanetary Cookie Marketing Group.
Are You Sure
• ... that clockmaker Jean-André Lepaute (23 November 1720 – 11 April 1789) introduced numerous improvements in clockmaking, notably his pin-wheel escapement, and his clockworks in which the gears are all in the horizontal plane?
• ... that physicist and academic Macedonio Melloni (11 April 1798 – 11 August 1854) demonstrated that radiant heat has physical properties similar to those of light?
• ... that physicist and academic Ukichiro Nakaya (4 July 1900 – 11 April 1962) contributed to glaciology and low-temperature sciences, and that Nakaya created the first artificial snowflakes?
Selected Anniversaries
1789: Clockmaker Jean-André Lepaute dies. He was an innovator, introducing numerous improvements in clockmaking, especially his pin-wheel escapement, and his clockworks in which the gears are all in the horizontal plane.
1798: Physicist and academic Macedonio Melloni born. Melloni will demonstrate that radiant heat has physical properties similar to those of light.
1914: Mathematician Dorothy Lewis Bernstein born. She will be the first woman to be elected president of the Mathematics Association of America.
1962: Physicist and academic Ukichiro Nakaya dies. He created the first artificial snowflakes.
1980: Viking program: After operating on the surface of Mars for 1316 days (1281 sols), the Viking 2 lander is turned off when its batteries fail.
2017: Dennis Paulson calls for a moment of silence in recognition of the thirty-seventh anniversary of NASA switching off the Viking 2 spacecraft.
Topic of the Day
Pink
January 16, 2018: Chromatographic analysis of Pink City reveals "at least two, possibly three" previously unknown dues of pink.
October 16, 2017: Spectrographic analysis of Taffy Bomb reveals "at least two, possibly three" previously unknown hues of the color pink.
Spokesperson for Pink Trombone and Taffy Bomb holds press conference, announces new "Pink Trombone and Taffy Bomb Lite" for the reduced-satire aftermarket.
Pink Trombone spokesperson denies knowledge of so-called "taffy bomb", call it a "coarse lampoon, insensitive to labial fricatives and palatal sighs."
Spokesperson for the color pink declares that pink is "the best possible color in all possible universes."
