November 15

Better Than News

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  Scannery Row is a science fiction horror-romance film directed by David Cronenberg and starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger.

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  The Scarlet Trumpet is a work of experimental historical fiction by American authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thomas Pynchon.

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  Slothrop's Heroes is a 1973 historical novel by American writer Thomas Pynchon about the design, production, and sabotage of V-2 rockets by Allied agents posing as prisoners of war.

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  Eutopiary is a 2023 instructional film which describes how to create and maintain topiary sculptures in an O'Neill cylinder.

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  Midnight E.T. is an American science fiction drama film directed by John Schlesinger and Steven Spielberg.

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  Pulp Genesis is a black comedy religion film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.

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  The Man Who Replaced His Ears With Orchids is a 1975 floral industry training film about a brilliant but absent-minded surgeon whose obsession with orchids leads to frightening advances in medical botany.

Beyond Plausible

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  One Day at a Time is a made-for-television documentary film about the 1976 invasion of Indianapolis by as-yet [30 August 2021] unidentified transdimensional actors camouflaged as Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips, and Valerie Bertinelli.

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  The Johnny Carcinization Show is an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC featuring examples of convergent evolution in which a crustacean evolves into a crab-like form from a non-crab-like form.

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  Zillow is a 1998 fantasy real estate adventure film.

In Other Words

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  Professor Moriarty's Guide to Clickbait is a memoire by Professor James Moriarty, the "Napoleon of Clickbait", about his rise to power.

Are You Sure

... that physicist and chemist Walter Heinrich Heitler made contributions to quantum electrodynamics and quantum field theory, bringing chemistry under quantum mechanics through his theory of valence bonding?

Selected Anniversaries

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  1280: Bishop, theologian, and philosopher Albertus Magnus dies. He was known during his lifetime as doctor universalis and doctor expertus and, late in his life, the term magnus was appended to his name.

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  1630: Mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer Johannes Kepler born. He will discover laws of planetary motion.

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  1738: Astronomer and composer William Herschel born. Herschel discovered the planet Uranus and its two moons, formulated a theory of stellar evolution, and suggested that nebulae are composed of stars.

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  1981: Physicist and chemist Walter Heinrich Heitler dies. He made contributions to quantum electrodynamics and quantum field theory, bringing chemistry under quantum mechanics through his theory of valence bonding.

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  2015: Extract of Radium installs transdimensional vending machines at all San Francisco Muni stations.

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  2016: San Francisco Muni hack begins, data held hostage for ransom.

Topic of the Day

Adam Sandler

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  Anchor Management is a 2003 American buddy comedy film about a businessman (Sandler) who must work with an unconventional ship designer (Jack Nicholson).

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  Billy Madison 2: America is Best is a 2021 political comedy film starring Adam Sandler as Donald Trump.