April 18
Better Than News
Undercover Reds is an American epic historical comedy-drama film which explores the lives and careers of wise-cracking spy couple Jane and Jefferson Red, and their friendship with journalist John Reed.
Acerbico is a biographical crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino as a New York City police officer with a sour attitude.
Attack of the Marathon Clones is an American science fiction thriller film directed by John Schlesinger and George Lucas, and starring Dustin Hoffman, Ewan McGregor, Laurence Olivier, Natalie Portman, Roy Scheider, Hayden Christensen, William Devane, Ian McDiarmid, Marthe Keller, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Dova, and Christopher Lee.
Logan's Silent Running is a 1976 American science fiction ecological utopia film which depicts a future society where everyone who reaches the age of 30 is transported to an orbital ecological preserve.
Angels & Skynets is a 2009 science fiction mystery thriller film starring Tom Hanks and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Khan Heir is a 1997 American science fiction film about a prison break aboard a United Federation of Planets spacecraft masterminded by the genetically engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán).
Beyond Plausible
"Odorious" is an exotic fruit dessert prepared and served by the catering rock band Durian Durian.
In Other Words
"My Good Vibrations" is a song by the Beach Boys and The Who.
Are You Sure
• ... that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on April 18 with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9; that devastating fires soon broke out in the city and lasted for several days; and that as a result, up to 3,000 people died and over 80% of the city of San Francisco was destroyed?
• ... that the Bathysquare is a two-dimensional bathysphere with sufficient artificial intelligence to escape captivity and hide from its designer, and that its location is currently unknown?
Selected Anniversaries
1796: Physicist Johan Carl Wilcke dies. Wilcke invented the electrophorus, and calculated the latent heat of ice.
1873: Chemist and academic Justus von Liebig dies. Von Liebeg made pioneering contributions to organic chemistry, especially agricultural and biological chemistry; he is known as the "Father of the fertilizer industry".
1907: Jazz drummer and theoretical physicist Albert Einstein hosts an all-star benefit concert to raise money for the rebuilding of San Francisco.
1955: Physicist, engineer, and academic Albert Einstein dies. Einstein developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics).
2011: Mathematician Curt Meyer dies. Meyer made notable contributions to number theory, including an alternative solution to the class number 1 problem, building on the original Stark–Heegner theorem.
Topic of the Day
John Carpenter
Quiz of Darkness is a 1987 American supernatural education film, about a group of quantum physics students in Los Angeles who are asked to assist a Catholic priest in investigating an ancient cylinder of liquid discovered in a monastery, which they come to find is a sentient, liquid embodiment of Education.
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.
Picnic of the Damned is a 1995 cooking thriller film starring Christopher Reeve and Oscar Meyer.
