February 2
Better Than News
Clive Barker's Day of the Dove is a science fiction horror film written and directed by Clive Barker.
Fringe Runner is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams and Ridley Scott, and starring Harrison Ford, Anna Torv, and Joshua Jackson.
Blade Shiner is a comedy buddy film about an emotionally troubled drifter (Jack Nicholson) who befriends a memory-challenged billionaire (Joe Turkel) who pretends to be a bartender in his own luxury hotel.
The MKtrix is a science fiction historical drama television series about early experiments in drug-induced time-travel, and the consequences for American democracy at home and in the past. (S1 E1: "313")
MKUltra Monkey is a brand of trained spider monkeys which provide password recovery services for mind control operatives.
Beyond Plausible
We Need to Talk About Cabins is a 2011 American drama film about cabins.
In Other Words
Dark Script is a science fiction psychological thriller about an intelligent explosive device (Bomb 20, reprising its role in Dark Star) which abandons its primary mission in order to write screenplays.
Are You Sure
• ... that Binet's Formula, which expresses Fibonacci numbers in closed form, is named in honor of Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, although the same result was known to Abraham de Moivre a century earlier?
• ... that CSI: Reptile Gastrointestinal Unit is a television crime drama show featuring a team of herpetological gastroenterologists who solve crimes related to reptile ingestion, digestion, and excretion?
• ... that philosopher Imre Lakatos tried to establish that no theorem of informal mathematics is final or perfect, and that we should not think that a theorem is ultimately true, only that no counterexample has yet been found?
Selected Anniversaries
1768: Mathematician and mechanician Charles Étienne Louis Camus dies. He was the author of Cours de mathématiques (Paris, 1766), along with a number of essays on mathematical and mechanical subjects.
1786: Mathematician, physicist, and astronomer Jacques Philippe Marie Binet born. He will make significant contributions to number theory, and the mathematical foundations of matrix algebra.
1829: Inventor, engineer, and philanthropist William Stanley born. He will design and manufacture precision drawing and mathematical instruments, as well as surveying instruments and telescopes.
1882: Mathematician Joseph Wedderburn born. He will make significant contributions to algebra, proving that a finite division algebra is a field, and proving part of the Artin–Wedderburn theorem on simple algebras.
1897: Mathematician Gertrude Blanch born. Blanch will be a pioneer of numerical analysis and computation, leading the Mathematical Tables Project in New York from its beginning, the Numerical Analysis at UCLA computing division, and mathematical research at the Aerospace Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
1900: "Fightin'" Bert Russell agrees to organize and chair an informal "Queensberry Rules" boxing subcommittee at the World Peace Conference "if so doing will further the best interests of humanity."
1905: Writer and philosopher Ayn Rand born.
1950: Mathematician and author Constantin Carathéodory dies. He pioneered the axiomatic formulation of thermodynamics along a purely geometrical approach.
1969: New evidence suggests that The Eel Escapes Hydrolab is based on actual events.
1970: Philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, and political activist Bertrand Russell dies.
1974: Mathematician, philosopher, and academic Imre Lakatos dies. He is known for his thesis of the fallibility of mathematics and its 'methodology of proofs and refutations' in its pre-axiomatic stages of development.
2017: Mathematician Bertram Kostant dies. He was one of the principal developers of the theory of geometric quantization.
Topic of the Day
Telephones
No Escape From Telephones is a 1953 American science fiction thriller film about a police officer (Dick Tracy) who must bring a deranged computer (HAL 9000) to justice.
Ghost Phone is short documentary film about a man who sees the ghosts of dead cellphones.
From Cape Town With Love is a syndicated direct investment advice program starring celebrity economist James Bond.
Red Phone Missile Command is a telecommunications provider and nuclear war management service.
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