April 13
Better Than News
Grand Theft Anathem is a series of action-adventure reality television programs created by [REDACTED] and marketed by Polycosm Games. Most of the gameplay revolves around number theory and computation, with occasional driving and shooting elements.
Alien: The Ten Commandments is an epic religious science fiction horror film starring Charlton Heston and Sigourney Weaver.
It's a Smash Smash Smash Smash Kart is a comedy video game starring Mario with an all-star cast of game characters in madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash.
Hello Cootie is a children's dice rolling and parasite assembly game for two to four players.
Beyond Plausible
The Silence of the Aliens is an American science fiction horror film about a young FBI trainee (Jodie Foster) who is hunting an alien serial killer, "Nostromo Bill" (Ted Levine), who lays his eggs in human victims.
The Christians of Eastwick is a 1987 American dark religious comedy film starring Jack Nicholson.
How Green Was My Envy is a 1941 American drama film about the Morgans, a hard-working Welsh mining family, told from the point of view of the youngest child Huw, who, despite the best efforts of affectionate and kind parents, grows up envious of others.
Indiana Jones and the Heat Death of the Universe is a theoretical physics film in the Indiana Jones franchise. Physicist and renowned film critic Lord Kelvin called it "the least watchable of all of the approximately 10.3 billion Indiana Jones films."
In Other Words
Today We Rinse, Tomorrow We Boil is a rice-and-pasta mystery novel in the Salty MacTavish Mystery Series.
Are You Sure
• ... that on April 13, 1953, CIA director Allen Dulles authorized the secret drug research program Project MKUltra, intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations and torture, in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through mind control?
• ... that Clandestiphrine is a transdimensional drug which amplifies the user's will to conceal events, misdirect attention, conduct remote non-invasive warrantless interrogation, surveil Euclidean space, and exert covert violence?
• ... that cryptologist and author Herbert Yardley (13 April 1889 – 7 August 1958) founded and led the Black Chamber, a secret American government cryptographic organization which broke Japanese diplomatic codes, furnishing American negotiators with significant information during the Washington Naval Conference of 1921-1922?
• ... that engineer and explorer Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) pioneered steam-powered transport by road and rail, developing the first high-pressure steam engine, and building the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive?
• ... that art critic and alleged math criminal The Eel (? - ?) used a portable wormhole generator to escape The Nacreum, a transdimensional prison constructed from artificially intelligent nacre?
• ... that theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler (9 July 1911 – 13 April 2008) linked the term "black hole" to objects with gravitational collapse, and coined the terms "quantum foam", "neutron moderator", "wormhole" and "it from bit"?
Topic of the Day
Bands
Big Star Baby is a British-American rock band comprising Big Star and the Guess Who. They are known for their hit song "Big Star Baby".
Queerosmith is a theoretical rock band comprising Queen and Aerosmith.
Steely Kubrick is a American rock band and film production company comprising Steely Dan and film director Stanley Kubrick.
Bread Zeppelin is a British-American rock band comprising Led Zeppelin and Bread.
Demolition Manfred Mann were an English-American rock band, featuring keyboardist Manfred Mann and actors Wesley Snipes and Sylvester Stallone.
Walking Heads were an arctic rock band formed by a parasitic alien monster from the bodies of David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison. Described as "one of the most critically acclaimed nightmares of the '80s", the group helped to pioneer new horror music by integrating elements of isolation, freezing temperatures, and fear of a monstrous alien life form.