It's that time of week again, so check out our newest episode.
To start this week, we have a bit of levity. NASA have programmed one of their robots to hit itself with a shovel. It's all for a good cause, they want to get their InSight lander's mole digging again. The probe became stuck and using the shovel as a hammer is just the latest attempt to get it going again.
DJ wants to tell us about Hollywood's response to COVID-19, including delays to the filming of Amazon's Lord of the Rings series. Now New Zealand has closed their borders and the Hobbits will not be going to Isengard.
Next, it's time to enter THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY. It isn't just in Harry Potter anymore; a group have created a library dedicated to copying articles from countries without press freedom. Did we mention it's in Minecraft? Next time you get busted playing Minecraft when you should be doing homework, just say you're researching.
On this week's games section, Professor makes a declaration that will surely lead to war. Having experienced Final Fantasy 7 and Black Mesa, he declares Black Mesa the better remake. If anyone has an issue with this, we'll have to substitute fisticuffs with videogames.
NASA’s high stakes mission: interplanetary whack a mole
Coronavirus hits Hollywood
Minecraft library of forbidden texts
- https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/13/tech/minecraft-uncensored-library-scli-intl/index.html
Games Played
Professor
- Final Fantasy 7 Remake Demo - https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0082-CUSA07237_00-FFVIIREMAKETRIAL
Rating – 8/5
DJ
– Warface - https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/warface-ps4/
Rating – 3.5/5
Other topics discussed
Coronavirus Update
- https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Glastonbury festival cancelled due to coronavirus
- https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/18/glastonbury-festival-postponed-due-to-coronavirus
Incidents of price gouging during the coronavirus
Monsters Inc : 2319
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUFJ1yVhJ6g
Aladdin : Genie calling a Code Red
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MF345T3GX8
Update : The interplanetary whack a mole mission was a success
- https://www.popsci.com/story/space/mars-mole-plan-c/
Elijah Wood’s take on Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV series costing $1 Billion
- https://www.indiewire.com/2019/04/elijah-wood-lord-of-the-rings-amazon-1-billion-1202127879/
2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike (From November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008, all 12,000 film and television screenwriters of the American labor unions Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) went on strike. The strike sought increased funding for the writers in comparison to the profits of the larger studios.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007–08_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike
TV shows that were affected by the strike
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_the_2007–08_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike_on_television
Heroes Season 2 (One of the shows negatively affected by the Writers Guild strike)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_(season_2)
Coronavirus: TV Shows That Have Halted Or Delayed Production Amid Outbreak - https://deadline.com/2020/03/coronavirus-tv-shows-production-delayed-1202881997/
Coronavirus: Movies That Have Halted Or Delayed Production Amid Outbreak - https://deadline.com/feature/movie-productions-postponed-coronavirus-hollywood-films-1202882857/
Radio Drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_drama
The War of the Worlds (an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles as an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds (1898). The episode became famous for allegedly causing panic among its listening audience, though the scale of that panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama)
Disney releases Frozen 2 to Disney Plus three months early due to coronavirus outbreak
Jamal Khashoggi (Saudi Arabian dissident, author, columnist for The Washington Post, and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Khashoggi
Wikileaks (international non-profit organisation that publishes news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks
Terrorist use video games to communicate and plan terrorist attacks
- https://www.thewrap.com/jack-ryan-terrorists-actually-use-video-games-communicate-plan-attacks/
Other Game to Movie adaptations coming soon
- Dungeons & Dragons coming out in 2021 - https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2906216/
- Super Mario Bros: The Movie coming out in 2022 - https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7634766/
Rate My Bit (TNC Podcast)
- https://thatsnotcanon.com/ratemybitpodcast
Shout Outs
15 March 2020 – Japanese student graduation ceremony now in Minecraft – https://soranews24.com/2020/03/15/japanese-students-hold-graduation-ceremony-in-minecraft-amid-school-cancellation/
Japanese Twitter user Backyennew shared several photos and videos highlighting the inventive efforts of his son and his schoolmates. Backyennew says his son already regularly played Minecraft with his friends, so it quickly became their go-to hangout after the Japanese government closed schools two weeks ago in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Using it as a social space to hold their own graduation ceremony just made sense. It looks like these kids built a whole dang assembly hall, complete with a stage, seating, and a proper red carpet which they could all walk down in order to receive their virtual diplomas. The backdrop is even emblazoned with the word "Summer," just to reinforce the end-of-school vibes. Japanese netizens seemed to feel the same way with their comments:
“The kids are all right.”
“Parents are doing ‘telework’ and kids are doing ‘telegraduation.'”
“I’m so jealous of what awesome things kids have these day.”
“Those who say video games are bad, look at this!”
“This will probably be an even better memory than a regular graduation for them.”
16 March 2020 – Sonic beats Detective Pikachu…in the box office - https://movieweb.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-video-game-movies-box-office/
Sonic the Hedgehog has managed to claim a record by becoming the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time, at least at the domestic box-office. The Paramount production currently stands at a little above $145 million dollars domestic collection. This puts it slightly ahead of Detective Pikachu, which managed to make around $144 million domestically. However, Detective Pikachu is still ahead of Sonic the Hedgehog in international territories, with earnings of over $400 million dollars. The future of video game movies appears to be looking bright now, with the medium finally being considered seriously by big Hollywood studios which are willing to allocate huge budgets and significant star power to those projects.
16 March 2020 – Steam hits 20 million concurrent users - https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam/20-million-users-coronavirus
The precise number being 20,313,451. Curiously, though 20 million is the highest since records began, the number of in-game players is yet to break records. It appears a lot of users are idling in their library, browsing the store, or have just left it running in the background. The top game as we speak is CS:GO at 971k, followed by Dota 2 with 616k and PUBG at 264k. The 14 million difference between those logged into Steam and those playing is substantial, but this record at least points to continued growth for Valve’s platform. Increased competition from companies like Epic doesn’t appear to have caused any major issues, though Fortnite did once beat Steam’s in-game player record all on its own.
Remembrances
16 March 1935 – John Macleod - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Macleod_(physiologist)
John James Rickard Macleod, Scottish biochemist and physiologist. He devoted his career to diverse topics in physiology and biochemistry, but was chiefly interested in carbohydrate metabolism. He is noted for his role in the discovery and isolation of insulin during his tenure as a lecturer at the University of Toronto, for which he and Frederick Banting received the 1923 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine. Awarding the prize to Macleod was controversial at the time, because according to Banting's version of events, Macleod's role in the discovery was negligible. It was not until decades after the events that an independent review acknowledged a far greater role than was attributed to him at first. He died after suffering from several years of arthritis at the age of 58 in Aberdeen.
16 March 2012 – Donald E. Hillman - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Hillman
Donald Edison Hillman, American World War II flying ace and prisoner of war credited with five enemy aircraft destroyed. He was also the first American pilot, in 1952, to make a deep-penetration overflight of Soviet territory for the purpose of aerial reconnaissance. He flew a Boeing B-47B Stratojet which left Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. It crossed over the Arctic ocean, turned eastwards back over Siberia, and returned to Eielson via Provideniya. It was the United States' first deep-penetration reconnaissance mission against the Soviet Union. He died at the age of 93 in Seattle, Washington.
16 March 2016 – Alexander Esenin-Volpin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Esenin-Volpin
Alexander Sergeyevich Esenin-Volpin, Russian-American poet and mathematician. A notable dissident,political prisoner and a leader of the Soviet human rights movement, he spent a total of six years incarcerated and repressed by the Soviet authorities in psikhushkas and exile. In mathematics, he is known for his foundational role in ultrafinitism. His early work was in general topology, where he introduced Esenin-Volpin's theorem. Most of his later work was on the foundations of mathematics, where he introduced ultrafinitism, an extreme form of constructive mathematics that casts doubt on the existence of not only infinite sets, but even of large integers such as 1012. He died at the age of 91 in Boston.
Famous Birthdays
16 March 1774 – Captain Matthew Flinders - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Flinders
English navigator and cartographer who led the second circumnavigation of New Holland that he would subsequently call "Australia or Terra Australis" and identified it as a continent. Flinders made three voyages to the Southern Ocean between 1791 and 1810. In the second voyage, George Bass and Flinders confirmed that Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was an island. In the third voyage, Flinders circumnavigated the mainland of what was to be called Australia, accompanied by Aboriginal man Bungaree. Heading back to England in 1803, Flinders' vessel needed urgent repairs at Isle de France (Mauritius). Although Britain and France were at war, Flinders thought the scientific nature of his work would ensure safe passage, but a suspicious governor kept him under arrest for more than six years. In captivity, he recorded details of his voyages for future publication, and put forward his rationale for naming the new continent 'Australia', as an umbrella term for New Holland and New South Wales – a suggestion taken up later by Governor Macquarie. He was born in Donington, Lincolnshire.
16 March 1840 – Shibusawa Eiichi - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibusawa_Eiichi
Shibusawa Eiichi, 1st Viscount Shibusawa, Japanese industrialist widely known today as the "father of Japanese capitalism". He spearheaded the introduction of Western capitalism to Japan after the Meiji Restoration. He introduced many economic reforms including use of double-entry accounting, joint-stock corporations and modern note-issuing banks. He founded the first modern bank based on joint stock ownership in Japan. The bank was aptly named The First National Bank (Dai Ichi Kokuritsu Ginkō, now merged into Mizuho Bank) and had the power to issue its own notes. Through this bank, he founded hundreds of other joint stock corporations in Japan. Many of these companies still survive to this day as quoted companies in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which Shibusawa also founded. The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry was founded by him as well. He was also involved in the foundation of many hospitals, schools, universities (including the first women's university), the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo and charitable organizations including the Japan Red Cross. On April 9, 2019, it was announced that Eiichi would be the historical figure featured on Japanese ¥10000 banknotes expected to enter circulation around 2024. He was born in Fukaya, Saitama.
16 March 1856 – Napoléon, Prince Imperial - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napol%C3%A9on,_Prince_Imperial
Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, prince imperial, the only child of Emperor Napoleon III and his wife, Eugénie de Montijo. After his father was dethroned in 1870, he relocated with his family to England. On his father's death in January 1873, he was proclaimed by the Bonapartist faction as Napoleon IV, Emperor of the French. The asteroid moon Petit-Prince was named after the Prince Imperial in 1998, because it orbits an asteroid named after his mother (45 Eugenia). He was born in Paris, French Empire.
16 March 1936 – Raymond Damadian - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Damadian
Raymond Vahan Damadian, American physician, medical practitioner, and inventor of the first MR (Magnetic Resonance) Scanning Machine. Damadian's research into sodium and potassium in living cells led him to his first experiments with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) which caused him to first propose the MR body scanner in 1969. Damadian discovered that tumors and normal tissue can be distinguished in vivo by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) because of their prolonged relaxation times, both T1 (spin-lattice relaxation) or T2 (spin-spin relaxation). Damadian was the first to perform a full body scan of a human being in 1977 to diagnose cancer. Damadian invented an apparatus and method to use NMR safely and accurately to scan the human body, a method now well known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He went on to collaborate with Wilson Greatbach, one early developer of the implantable pacemaker, to develop an MRI-compatible pacemaker. He was born in New York City, New York.
16 March 1971 – Alan Tudyk - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Tudyk
Alan Wray Tudyk, American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles as Hoban "Wash" Washburne in the space western series Firefly and the film Serenity and Tucker McGee in Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. He has also had starring roles in the films DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story,I, Robot,A Knight's Tale, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Rogue One. Since voicing King Candy in 2012's Wreck-It Ralph, Tudyk has voiced characters in every Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film. He wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy web series Con Man (2015–17) about a struggling actor whose career is still defined by a successful science fiction TV show he was once on, loosely based on Tudyk's own experience having been on Firefly. The series aired on Syfy in 2017 and earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. As of 2019, Tudyk plays the main antagonist, Mr. Nobody, in the DC Universe series Doom Patrol. He was born in El Paso, Texas.
Events of Interest
16 March 1926 – First liquid-fueled rocket - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-liquid-fueled-rocket
American Robert H. Goddard, successfully launches the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts, on March 16, 1926. The rocket traveled for 2.5 seconds at a speed of about 60 mph, reaching an altitude of 41 feet and landing 184 feet away. The rocket was 10 feet tall, constructed out of thin pipes, and was fueled by liquid oxygen and gasoline. His work was recognized by the aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, who helped secure him a grant from the Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. Using these funds, Goddard set up a testing ground in Roswell, New Mexico, which operated from 1930 until 1942. During his tenure there, he made 31 successful flights, including one of a rocket that reached 1.7 miles off the ground in 22.3 seconds. Meanwhile, while Goddard conducted his limited tests without official U.S. support, Germany took the initiative in rocket development and by September 1944 was launching its V-2 guided missiles against Britain to devastating effect. During the war, Goddard worked in developing a jet-thrust booster for a U.S. Navy seaplane. He would not live to see the major advances in rocketry in the 1950s and ’60s that would make his dreams of space travel a reality. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is named in his honor.
16 March 1968 – My Lai Masscre - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/my-lai-massacre-takes-place-in-vietnam
A platoon of American soldiers brutally kills as many as 500 unarmed civilians at My Lai, one of a cluster of small villages located near the northern coast of South Vietnam. The crime, which was kept secret for nearly two years, later became known as the My Lai Massacre. a platoon of soldiers from Charlie Company received word that Viet Cong guerrillas had taken cover in the Quang Ngai village of Son My. The platoon entered one of the village’s four hamlets, My Lai 4, on a search-and-destroy mission on the morning of March 16. Instead of guerrilla fighters, they found unarmed villagers, most of them women, children and old men. The soldiers had been advised before the attack by army command that all who were found in My Lai could be considered VC or active VC sympathizers, and were told to destroy the village. the massacre reportedly ended when an Army helicopter pilot, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, landed his aircraft between the soldiers and the retreating villagers and threatened to open fire if they continued their attacks. The events at My Lai were covered up by high-ranking army officers until investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story. Soon, My Lai was front-page news and an international scandal.
16 March 2001 – Terminator has a rare theatrical re-release -https://www.scifihistory.net/march-16.html
On this day in 2001, The Terminator enjoyed a rare theatrical re-release in the United Kingdom. Written and directed by James Cameron, the SciFi/Thriller starred Michael Biehn and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and here's the plot summary:
"In 1984, a human soldier is tasked to stop an indestructible cyborg killing machine, both sent from 2029, from executing a young woman, whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation."
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