Geek Quote of the Day
Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.
- - The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams, 1996.
Archive for September, 2008
This Day in Geek History: September 5
1787
Clause 8 of Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution governing copyrights and patents is adopted by the constitutional convention.
1831
Charles Darwin first meets Captain Robert Fitzroy, commander of HMS Beagle, who would be his cabinmate on a the historic five-year expedition during which Darwin will visit the Galapogos Islands.
1857
Charles Darwin, sends a letter to Asa Gray, a Harvard botanist, discussing his theory of evolution. The encouragement which will follow from Gray and others will prompt Darwin to end the twenty years of indecision and publish his ideas.
1916
The epic motion picture Intolerance directed by D. W. Griffith opens in New York City.
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Geek Quote of the Day
After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting.
It is not logical, but it is often true.
- - The Star Trek episode “Amok Time” by Theodore Sturgeon, 1967.
Character: Mr. Spock
Geek Media Round-Up: September 4, 2008
Art
- Pink Tentacle has rounded up a great gallery of artwork entitled Tokyo Fantasy: Images of the apocalypse.
Comics
- Author Brad Meltzer has launched a campaign to Preserve the House of Jerry Siegel, where Superman was born, as a historical site.
Film
- John Scalzi discusses the lessons we’ve learned from this summer’s films.
- Leave it to a geek to jump straight to the heart of a matter. In an interview on the upcoming Trek film, J.J. Abrams Reveals Film Has “All The Gadgets You Could Want.“
- The UK’s Telegraph has published an article on The 50 Best Beach Scenes in the Movies.
Literature
- Free Reading: Harper Collins has released “Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman as a free download until Halloween.
- Free Reading: Harper Collins has released “Odalisque: Book One of The Percheron Saga” by Fiona McIntosh as a free download until Halloween.
- Neal Stephenson’s upcoming book, Anathem, has got itself a commercial.
- SciFi Talks interviews Ben Bova on his sci-fi novel Mars Life.
Video Games
- Cartoon Network has posted a new side-scrolling game to their website.
- Cracked.com suggests Seven Commandments All Video Games Should Obey.
- Japanese researchers have discovered a way to use Ultrasound to add tactile component to Games.
Link Round-Up: September 4, 2008
- Catalog Choice lets you unsubscribe from the sales catalogs clogging you real-world mailbox.
Cracked.com takes a look at The 8 Most Obnoxious Internet Commenters.
DesignReviver has posted 50+ Excellent Body Enhancement Photoshop Tutorials.
Eleven applications to improve your windows experience.
Gazelle.com pays cash for your obsolete tech gear, including cameras, MP3 players, and laptops.
Know a computer addict? Send them an electronic intervention email.
Mashable looks at the seven best features of Chrome, while Lifehacker shows you how to bring Chromes best features to Firefox.
Searchme is an awesome search engine that uses Apple’s Cover Flow to display your search results.
Slate explains how to trick your printer into using all of its ink.
This handy guide on How to Set Up a Laptop Security System should be useful for all the returning college students.
Geek Quote of the Day
The original writer is not he who refrains from imitating others,
but he who can be imitated by none.
This Day in Geek History: September 4
1882
American electrical engineer Thomas Alva Edison supplies electricity to the first customers of the Edison Electrical Illuminating Company at 257 Pearl Street in New York City. Edison inaugurates its operation by pulling a switch on the Wall Street office of his primary financial backer. The station’s “Jumbo No. 1″ generator is a direct-current steam-powered dynamo. It can power about seven hundred sixteen candlepower lamps. Within fourteen months, this first power station serves 508 subscribers and powers 12,732 bulbs.
The New York Times becomes the first newspaper to use the electricity generated by the Edison Illuminating Company. The electricity is used to power twenty-seven lamps in the editorial room and twenty-five lamps in the counting room. The following day, the paper will run an article reporting that its employees unanimously prefer the light provided by the carbon-filament lamp over the building’s former gas lighting system.
1888
George Eastman registers the Kodak trademark and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film. (US No. 388,850) This design is the first Kodak mass-produced camera, and it will largely be responsible for popularizing photography in the mass market. As described in its advertising, the device is simple to operate. “Pull the String, Turn the Key, Press the Button.”
1906
Robert Eugene Turner of Norfolk, Virginia is granted a patent for his typewriter, described as a “Type Writing Machine,” with a carriage powered by a motor to “return automatically when the end of the writing-line is reached, also to return same by pressing a key-lever on the keyboard to return the carriage at any point of its stroke.” The machine spaces lines by manual or automatic means. (US No. 830,115) A low-powered motor was adapted to feed the carriage in the printing direction, a high-powered motor for returning the carriage in the reverse direction, and the necessary mechanism to control their action.
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