The rocket scientist who summoned demons: The true horror story of Jack Parsons (Space.com)

GRANT BRICKMAN: A rocket pioneer, a desert, and a very strange experiment. Nova has the breaking details.

GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking news, just landed. A rocket scientist, a desert, and a series of ceremonies. Nova is at the pad. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Space.com reports that Jack Parsons helped lay the foundations for modern rocketry. They also tried to conjure supernatural entities. ▶

NOVA: Breaking from the pad, Grant. Parsons was a self-taught chemist who helped establish what became NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ▶

NOVA: File footage: the Mojave Desert. Winter of 1946, two men walk in together. One is Parsons. The other is L. Ron Hubbard, then a science fiction writer. ▶

NOVA: The report says one of them became convinced an extraordinary experiment had finally succeeded. Cosmic perspective: that is a lot of ambition for one desert. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: A self-taught chemist! I once taught myself the hotel minibar. Nobody summoned anything, but the prices were frightening. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Grant, the minibar did not help lay the groundwork for the Space Race. Parsons' rocket propulsion work did, according to the article. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: Quite right, Greta. Stay with PXL as this story develops. We will be keeping one eye on the desert. ▶

HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ Casts Hogwarts Ghosts, the Fat Lady and the Sorting Hat (TheWrap)

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Hogwarts just got livelier: ghosts, a portrait and a hat are cast. We asked the street.

ODETTE: A panel! Four chairs, one story, nobody agrees. ▶

BARNABY: How we got here, in one tidy explainer. ▶

DIRECTOR MARGE: Pencil it in: THE STREET. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: Viewers just joining: we first told you about this Friday 17:03 today. HBO's Harry Potter has cast its ghosts. Roxy asked the public. ▶

ROXY: Roxy Reel at the drive-in, where the projector is warm and the opinions are hot. Ghosts, a portrait and a hat. Who is thrilled? ▶

PASSERBY: Nearly Headless Nick is played by Leo Bill. I like that. A ghost should be a bit see-through, acting-wise. ▶

ROXY: Gorgeous. Leo Bill, Andrew Brooke as the Bloody Baron, Daniel Fearn as the Fat Friar. Three ghosts, three reels from me. ▶

PASSERBY: David Threlfall voices the Sorting Hat. A hat gets a voice actor. Hats never got that in my day. ▶

PASSERBY: Laura Smyth is the Fat Lady. I am just glad the portrait gets proper casting. She guards the whole common room. ▶

ROXY: A moving portrait with a real cast member. Five out of five reels. I will not say who sits in which house. Well, Gryffindor, but that is in the article. ▶

PASSERBY: They announced it right before Halloween. Bit clever. I would have waited until the ghosts could haunt the press release. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: So the street is mostly pleased, and one person wants a haunted press release. The ghosts join the cast already announced for the series. ▶

GSLV Mk II | IRNSS-1L (NVS-03) (Launch Library 2)

GRANT BRICKMAN: A GSLV Mk II is Go for Launch with a navigation satellite. Nova is at the pad.

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Launch watch. A GSLV Mk II is on the pad with IRNSS-1L, also called NVS-03. Nova is at the pad. ▶

NOVA: Status is Go for Launch. The rocket is a GSLV Mk. II, the provider is the Indian Space Research Organization. ▶

NOVA: The pad is the Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad. Orbit: Geostationary Transfer Orbit. The mission is navigation. ▶

NOVA: Target time is 19:21 CET on 2026-10-30. The T-minus clock is on screen behind me, and I am not looking at it. Helmet stays on. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: A replacement satellite for a regional navigation system. Excellent. Finally, one that does not insist on a left turn. ▶

HIGHER OR LOWER (PXL)

GRETA FOOTNOTE: Billy hosts Higher or Lower with real Twitch viewer numbers, and Lyle guesses.

BILLY MAYHEM: WELCOME to Higher or Lower! Real Twitch viewer numbers, right now! Our contestant is Lyle Hotchkiss, and he is READY! ▶

BILLY MAYHEM: Round one! GRONKH has 14,742 viewers. Is NiceWigg higher or lower? ▶

LYLE HOTCHKISS: Higher! A stream is a tide, Billy, and tides only come in. Ask any moon. ▶

BILLY MAYHEM: NiceWigg has 18,668 viewers! HIGHER! That is CORRECT! ▶

BILLY MAYHEM: Round two! NiceWigg has 18,668 viewers. Is StRoGo higher or lower? ▶

BILLY MAYHEM: StRoGo has 24,013 viewers! HIGHER! That is WRONG! ▶

LYLE HOTCHKISS: That podium lied to my face. I have never trusted a podium with two lights. ▶

BILLY MAYHEM: Final score: one out of two! Thanks for playing Higher or Lower! But wait, there is more game, just not tonight! ▶