The Great Geek Manual

Today is the traditional date for the celebration of Festivus, a fictional holiday introduced by the sitcom Seinfeld. It is also HumanLight, the winter holiday celebrated by American secular humanists.

1672
Astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovers the fifth major satellite of Saturn, Rhea.

1750
Benjamin Franklin is severely shocked while electrocuting a turkey.

1823
The poem A Visit From St. Nicholas, otherwise known as The Night Before Christmas is first published in the Sentinel newspaper in the Troy, New York.

1834
Charles Babbage announces his Analytical Engine, which he had begun work on in 1821.

1900
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden successively transmitted speech approximately 1.6 kilometers, the very first audio radio transmission.
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Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space.

- “Peace on Earth, but No Parking” by Dave Barry, 1989.

The moment when one first meets a great work of art
has an impact that can never again be recaptured.

- Jupiter Five by Arthur C. Clarke, 1953.

1845
The first voice synthesizer, later known as P.T. Barnum’s Euphonium, is demonstrated to the public.

1882
The first string of Christmas tree lights is created by Edward H. Johnson, an associate of Thomas Edison, to decorate his home Christmas tree. Traditionally, trees are traditionally decorated with wax candles. The first commercially produced Christmas tree lamps will be manufactured in strings of nine sockets by the Edison General Electric Co. of Harrison, New Jersey, and they will be advertised in the December 1901 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal. Each socket will take a miniature two candlepower carbon-filament lamp operating on thirty-two volts. Electric Christmas tree lights will quickly become popular among wealthy Americans, but the average citizen won’t use them until the twenties or later. Character light bulbs will become popular in the twenties, bubble lights will become popular in the forties, twinkle bulbs will become popular in the fifties, and plastic bulbs will become popular by 1955.

1932
Universal Pictures releases the horror film The Mummy, directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, and Edward van Sloan, to US theaters. In it, a field expedition in Egypt discovers the mummy of ancient Egyptian prince Im-Ho-Tep, who was condemned and buried alive for sacrilege. The Scroll of Thoth, which can bring the dead back to life, is also found in the tomb. One night a young member of the expedition reads the Scroll out loud, bring Im-Ho-Tep back to life. Ten years later, disguised as a modern Egyptian, the mummy attempts to reunite with his lost love, an ancient princess who has been reincarnated into a beautiful young woman. IMDB listing Running time: 1 hr 13 mins

1944
Universal Pictures releases the horror film The Mummy’s Curse, directed by Leslie Goodwins and starring Lon Chaney Jr., Peter Coe, and Virginia Christine, to US theaters. In it, an irrigation project in the rural bayous of Louisiana unearths Kharis the living mummy (Lon Chaney Jr.), who was buried in quicksand 25 years earlier. IMDB listing Running time: 1 hr 2 mins
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Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought.
It always defeats order, because it is better organized.

- Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett, 1995.

1898
Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover Radium.

1913
Arthur Wynne published the first crossword puzzle, which he called a “word-cross”, in the New York World.

1937
Walt Disney premieres the first full-length, animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The film is notable for its length, its pioneering use of the multi-plane camera to achieve the illusion of depth, its introduction of human characters modeled on live actors, and its use of larger painted cels. These advances are all the more astonishing for the fact that Snow White is released just twelve years after Walt Disney released the first animation with sound, Steamboat Willie. The film was produced by 750 artists working for three years at the unheard-of cost of US$1.499 million. The cost was so exorbitant that Disney had to mortgage his house to pay for the film’s production. The artists produced one million individual drawings, only a quarter of which were actually used in the final print of the film. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: G Running Time: 1 hr 23 mins

1965
United Artists releases Thunderball, directed by Terence Young and starring Sean Connery as James Bond, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, and Luciana Paluzzi, to US theaters. It is the fourth film in the James Bond series. In it, James Bond heads to The Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme. The film was produced on a budget of US$5.6 million. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 2 hrs 9 mins
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Science will be the master of man. The engines he will have invented will be beyond his strength to control. Some day science shall have the existence of mankind in its power, and the human race commit suicide by blowing up the world.

- U.S. Historian Henry Adams in a letter to his brother, April 11, 1862.