December 31

Better Than News

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  Running Skerritt is a 1986 American biographical action comedy film loosely based on the life of Tom Skerritt, starring Billy Crystal, Gregory Hines, and Tom Skerritt.

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  Goldschläger is a 1964 spy film about liquor smuggling by gold magnate Auric Goldfinger, who plans to make Barry Goldwater President of the United States.

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  I Got Spaces I got spaces / I got vectors / I got metrics / Who could ask for anything more?"

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  Night Courtship is an American television sitcom set in the night shift of a Manhattan couples counselling clinic presided over by a young, unorthodox psychologist, Harold "Harry" T. Stone (portrayed by Harry Anderson).

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  "Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?"—Robert Browning

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?

On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction

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  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.

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  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.

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  1853: Banquet held in the mould of the Crystal Palace Iguanodon.

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  1879: Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

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  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."

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  1900: Priest and inventor Hannibal Goodwin dies. He invented and patented rolled celluloid photographic film.

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  1980: Professor of English and philosopher of communication theory Marshall McLuhan dies. He coined the expressions "the medium is the message" and "global village".

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  2007: The Deep Impact spacecraft flies by Earth on an extended mission to study extrasolar planets and comet Hartley 2 (103P/Hartley).

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  2016: Reality television show Dennis Paulson of Mars fully funded by Kickstarter.

Topic of the Day

Death

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  Death is not an illusion. It happens in time, where the life is.