December 31

Better Than News

Dune Peaks is an epic mystery-horror space opera television series created and directed by David Lynch.
The Limousines paradox (often expressed as How many limousines make up a heap?) is a paradox that results from vague predicates.
I Got Spaces I got spaces / I got vectors / I got metrics / Who could ask for anything more?"
Office Matrix is a science fiction comedy-action dystopian romance film directed by Mike Judge and The Wachowskis, and starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Aniston, Ron Livingston, and Carrie-Anne Moss.
Time Alone is a science fiction action-thriller comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and Rian Johnson, and starring Pierce Gagnon and Macaulay Culkin.
Mortal Kombat: Arabian Knights is an epic biographical adventure drama fighting video game starring Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif.

Beyond Plausible

Jungle Book: Kama Sutra Nights is an American animated erotic musical adventure film loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's 1899 poem "The White Man's Burden".
A Star is Dying is a 1976 American musical romantic drama film a young singer (Barbra Streisand) who meets and falls in love with a dying dancer, choreographer and director (Roy Scheider).

In Other Words

The Dyson Sphere War is an ongoing military and paradigmatic conflict between Earth-based civilizations and Dyson sphere civilizations.
Willy Wonka and the Nostalgia Factory is an American drama buddy film about two eccentric billionaires (Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp) who cannot agree on a worthy heir to their chocolate factory.

Are You Sure

• ... that mathematician Thomas Joannes Stieltjes' pioneering work on the analytic theory of continued fractions was an important early step towards the theory of Hilbert spaces?

• ... that Episcopal priest Hannibal Goodwin invented and patented a method for making rolled photographic film because he wanted a clear, non-breakable substance on which he could place the images he utilized in his Biblical teachings?

• ... that the reality television show Dennis Paulson of Mars was the first manned interplanetary mission funded entire by social media campaigns?

Selected Anniversaries

1610: Mathematician and fencer Ludolph van Ceulen dies. He spent a major part of his life calculating the numerical value of the mathematical constant π.
1679: Physiologist, physicist, and mathematician Giovanni Alfonso Borelli dies. He contributed to the modern principle of scientific investigation by continuing Galileo's practice of testing hypotheses against observation.
1853: Banquet held in the mould of the Crystal Palace Iguanodon.
1879: Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
$1894: Mathematician Thomas Joannes Stieltjes dies. He worked on almost all branches of analysis, continued fractions and number theory, and was called "the father of the analytic theory of continued fractions."$

1894: Mathematician Thomas Joannes Stieltjes dies. He worked on almost all branches of analysis, continued fractions and number theory, and was called "the father of the analytic theory of continued fractions."
1900: Priest and inventor Hannibal Goodwin dies. He invented and patented rolled celluloid photographic film.
1980: Professor of English and philosopher of communication theory Marshall McLuhan dies. He coined the expressions "the medium is the message" and "global village".
2007: The Deep Impact spacecraft flies by Earth on an extended mission to study extrasolar planets and comet Hartley 2 (103P/Hartley).
2016: Reality television show Dennis Paulson of Mars fully funded by Kickstarter.