The Great Geek Manual

I found this great piece over at the portfolio site of Jason Chan. Stylistically, his stuff is like a cross between Mary GrandPre and Jeph Loeb… Or maybe that’s just my ever-lingering desire for a DC/Harry Potter cross-over.

Come on! Guy Gardner versus Snape, Wonder Woman versus Professor McGonigal, Blue Beetle versus Seamus Finnigan, Alfred versus Dobbie, Batman versus Harry Potter… But I digress.

I spend a lot of time surfing the web for great art websites to browse, and Chan’s website is definitely getting a bookmark. There isn’t much in the way of quantity, but it’s quality is certainly promising.

Check out more of Jason Chan’s website for yourself.

The pen is mightier than the sword, the the crochet hooks are deadlier yet! Get your Mixed Martial Arts and Crafts T-Shirt now at SnorTees! They only come in Women’s sizes (Sexist Bastards), small to extra-large, for US$16.95.

Personally, I prefer to wear a plain grey t-shirt and refer to them as my “Ninja shirt”. That way, when people feel obliged to point out that the shirt doesn’t have any ninjas on it, I get to point that, of course, you wouldn’t be able to spot a real ninja.

Get yours now at Snorg Tees!

There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling and technicians.
The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians.

- George Pompidou, President of the French Republic

1642
Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovers the south polar cap of Mars.

1876
The four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) written by German composer Richard Wagner premieres at the new Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which Wagner had custom built just for performances of the Ring cycle. The cycle takes four nights to perform, for a total of up to fifteen hours of performance. The plot revolves around a magic ring forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold stolen from the river Rhine that grants the wearer the power to rule the world. Read more about the opera at the University of Texas.

1889
The first coin-operated telephone box is patented by William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut. He will begin selling the device through the Gray Telephone Pay Station Company, which he will found in 1891. The device is not the first pay telephone however. As early as 1880, a series of telephone pay stations were operating throughout New York City. Customers could use these phones by paying their attendants.
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The admin over at EnergyFace bought a pair of processor cufflinks from Etsy, and his post sent me searching the site for other geek-tastic accessories.

I found a wide assortment of geekery on the site, but I was particularly impressed by the other component jewelry, including the Black Capacitor bracelet, Half Can Oscillator cufflinks, and the Purple Resistor earrings.

Might be a good bookmark for Valentines Day gifts for those of you with Geeky girlfriends.

3 AD
A planetary conjunction is visible from the Earth with the naked eye. Many astronomers will later speculate that this may have been the Star of Bethlehem mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible.

1865
After studying Louis Pasteur’s germ theory of disease which suggests that infections are caused by bacteria, Dr. Joseph Lister becomes the first surgeon to use disinfectant during an operation. Lister introduces phenol (carbolic acid) as a form of disinfectant into his surgery. His heightened standards of hygiene will reduce his surgical death rate from 45% to 15%.

1877
This date is often falsely marked as the date on which Thomas Alva Edison completed the first sketch from which the first phonograph will be built. However, the sketch won’t actually be created until November 29, 1877. The mistake will arise in 1917, when Edison mislabels that first sketch, but because construction of the first phonograph will begin just two days later on December 1, 1877, the error will easily be caught by historians.

1887
Thomas Alva Edison creates the first sound recording on a foil-wrapped cylinder with a device called the Edisonphone. The recording was of Edison reciting Mary had a Little Lamb.
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Thanks to technology, the reasons for many of the old social problems have passed, and along with them went many of the reasons for psychic distress. But between the black of yesterday and the white of tomorrow is the great gray of today, filled with nostalgia and fear of the future, which cannot be expressed on a purely material plane, is now being represented by a willful seeking after historical anxiety-modes…

- The novella “He Who Shapes” by Roger Zelazny, 1965.

Monday, August 11

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Runner (PC download, Wiiware)
The animated series Homestar Runner comes to games.

Tuesday, August 12

Bangai-O Spirits (DS)
Ab arcade-style shooter from Japan.

Dracula 3: Path of the Dragon (PC)
As investigators attempt to piece together the life of a man being considered for Sainthood, a mysterious world of Vampires emerges.

Imagine Teacher (DS)
A new type of simulator which casts players as a teacher in a high school.

Line Rider 2: Unbound (DS, PC, Wii)

Madden NFL 09 All-Play (Wii)
The popular football simulation franchise returns.

Madden NFL 09 (DS, PS2, PS3, PSP, X360, Xbox)
The popular football simulation franchise returns.

N+ (PSP)
An arcade platform game.

Sinking Island (PC)
An interactive murder mystery which casts players as PI Jack Norm.

Space Siege (PC)
Save the human race in this sci-fi action roleplaying game.

Wednesday, August 13

Bionic Commando Rearmed (XBLA)

Fable II Pub Games (XBLA)
Casino-style games for the Xbox Live Arcade.

Thursday, August 14

Bionic Commando Rearmed (PC, PS3)

Friday, August 15

Baseball Mogul 2009 (PC)
Manage a baseball franchise.

Ford Racing: Off Road (PC)

If you know of any major releases that I missed, mention it below.