December 9

Better Than News

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  The Shining 2: Return to Bethlehem is an American religious horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, and Scatman Crothers.

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  The Bigfoot of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film about a large and hairy human-like mythical creature alleged by some to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

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  The African Queen and I is an American musical adventure film directed by John Huston and Walter Lang, starring Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Deborah Kerr, and Yul Brynner.

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  Brokeback Species is a neo-Western romantic science fiction thriller film directed by Roger Donaldson, Ang Lee, and John Carpenter, starring Heath Ledger Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams.

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  Sneakers in the Park is an American romantic comedy science fiction political thriller film starring Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, and Ben Kingsley.

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  Crimson Droid is a 2015 gothic science tragedy film.

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  Better Off Mended Than Ended is a 1985 American comedy home do-it-yourself film about high school student Lane Myer (John Cusack), who becomes suicidal when his girlfriend breaks up with him after he mends all of her clothing, repairing ripped seams and replacing lost buttons.

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  Grand Theft Auto: Weigh Station is a resource management adventure video game which follows a trucker who climbs in status within his company by rigorously maintaining his vehicle's cargo capacity and weight.

Beyond Plausible

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  "The Rage of Aquarius" is a lost song by the 5th Dimension.

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  A Christmas Junky is a 1983 American Christmas substance abuse film based on William Burroughs's semi-fictional anecdotes in his 1966 book In God We Thrust, All Others Stay Back.

In Other Words

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  The Three Stigmata of Quentin Beck is a science fiction superhero novel by American sociologist Philip K. Dick.

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  "A Verdict in His Soul" is an anagram of "Issur Danielovitch" (better known as Kirk Douglas).

Are You Sure

• ... that mathematician and astronomer Adriaan Metius (9 December 1571 – 6 September 1635) manufactured precision astronomical instruments, and published treatises on the astrolabe and on surveying?

• ... that Secret Reagent Man is a British-American television series about a spy (Patrick McGoohan) and a musician (Johnny Rivers) who team up to advance chemistry worldwide?

Selected Anniversaries

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  1508: Physician, mathematician, and cartographer Gemma Frisius born. He will create important globes, improve the mathematical instruments of his day, and apply mathematics to surveying and navigation in new ways.

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  1571: Mathematician and astronomer Adriaan Metius born. He will manufacture precision astronomical instruments, and publish treatises on the astrolabe and on surveying.

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  1718: Monk, cosmographer, and cartographer Vincenzo Coronelli dies. He gained fame for his atlases and globes; some of the globes are very large and highly detailed.

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  1814: Physician Golding Bird born. He will pioneer the medical use of electricity.

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  1868: Chemist Fritz Haber born. He will receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber–Bosch process, a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas. Haber will also do pioneering work in chemical warfare, weaponizing chlorine and other poisonous gases during World War I.

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  1883: Mathematician, theorist, and academic Nikolai Luzin born. He will contribute to descriptive set theory and aspects of mathematical analysis with strong connections to point-set topology.

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  1905: Screenwriter and novelist Dalton Trumbo born. He will be blacklisted for refusing testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947; while blacklisted, he will win Academy Awards for two films: Roman Holiday, attributed to a front author, and The Brave One under the pseudonym Robert Rich.

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  1906: Computer scientist and Admiral Grace Hopper born. She will pioneer computer programming techniques, inventing one of the first compilers, and popularizing machine-independent programming languages (leading to the development of COBOL).

Topic of the Day

Camping

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  Vampire Bivouac is a self-help wilderness retreat organization which provides camping supplies and services for vampires.

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  Carl Jung, Camping Enthusiast is a reality television series in which famed psychologist and camping enthusiast Carl Jung goes camping.

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  The Cabin in the Matrix is a science fiction horror film about an amoral gourmand (Joe Pantoliano) who becomes trapped in a nightmarish world of simulated camping experiences.