February 8
Better Than News
The Amity Island Horror is a supernatural marine thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and Stuart Rosenberg, and starring James Brolin, Roy Scheider, Margot Kidder, Robert Shaw, Rod Steiger, and Richard Dreyfuss.
Into Dreddness is a dystopian science fiction action film directed by Pete Travis and J. J. Abrams, and starring Karl Urban and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Kobayashi Jabbar is an American epic science fiction thriller film directed by Nicholas Meyer and Denis Villeneuve.
"Assignment: Wrath" (popularly known as Star Trek II: Assignment: Wrath) is one of the "Forbidden Episodes" of the television series Star Trek.
"I'm Only Reuben" is a song by the rock band and catering firm The Beatles.
She Loaves You is a song by the British rock group The Breadles.
"If Eiffel" is a song by the British rock group The Beatles about the Eiffel Tower.
Beyond Plausible
The Terroir is a 2007 novel by Mason S. Minds which tells a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's search for the fabled Northwest Vineyards. Plagued by starvation, illness, and cheap merlot, Franklin and his men are stalked across the bleak Arctic landscape by the Phylloxerum, a supernaturally cold-resistant swarm of vine-eating parasites.
One Flew Over the Cool Hand's Nest is an American psychological prison drama film directed by Miloš Forman and Stuart Rosenberg and starring Jack Nicholson and Paul Newman.
The Final Pencil is an educational standardized testing horror film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
In Other Words
Are we all humans together, or must some of us die that others may live?
Are You Sure
• ... that Steely Kubrick was an American rock band and film production company comprising Steely Dan and film director Stanley Kubrick?
• ... that polymath John von Neumann was concerned that the Soviet Union would achieve nuclear superiority over the United States, and that von Neumann designed and promoted the policy of Mutually Assured Destruction with the intention of limiting the arms race?
• ... that the so-called "carnivorous dirigible" (Dirigible horribilis) is a species of grazing ruminant airship, neither carnivorous nor horrible, and that it evolved from early experiments in artificial intelligence?
Selected Anniversaries
1700: Mathematician and physicist Daniel Bernoulli born. Bernoulli will be particularly remembered for his applications of mathematics to mechanics, especially fluid mechanics, and for his pioneering work in probability and statistics.
1866: Chemist Moses Gomberg born. Gomberg will identify the triphenylmethyl radical, the first persistent radical to be discovered, and will thus be known as the founder of radical chemistry.
1879: Engineer and inventor Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
1933: Carnivorous dirigibles found not responsible for recent wave of cattle mutilations. The so-called "carnivorous" digible (Dirigible horribilis) is in fact a grazing ruminant autonomous airship, neither carnivorous nor horrible.
1936: Mathematician and academic Emilie Martin dies. Martin researched primitive substitution groups of degree 15 and primitive substitution groups of degree 18.
1957: Mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist John von Neumann dies. Von Neumann was a key figure in the development of the digital computer, and developed mathematical models of both nuclear and thermonuclear weapons.
Topic of the Day
Fleetwood Big Mac are a British-American rock fast-food band, formed in London in 1967.
Demolition Manfred Mann were an English-American rock band, featuring keyboardist Manfred Mann and actors Wesley Snipes and Sylvester Stallone.
Queerosmith is a British-American rock band comprising Queen and Aerosmith.
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".
Bread Zeppelin is a British-American rock band comprising Led Zeppelin and Bread.
Steely Kubrick was a American rock band and film production company comprising Steely Dan and film director Stanley Kubrick.
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.
