The Great Geek Manual

Logical activity is not the whole of intelligence. One can be intelligent without being particularly logical.

- “The Child’s Conception of the World” by Jean Piaget, 1928.

1882
Leroy B. Firman receives the first patent for a telephone switchboard. (U.S. No. 252,576 ) The invention will play a fundamental role in the success of the telephone industry.

Thomas Alva Edison is issued a patent for the carbon microphone for the telephone. (US No. 252,442) The microphone consists of a conducting material, such as carbon, held between metal cups or rings attached to the telephone mouthpiece’s diaphragm. Sound waves cause the diaphragm to change the pressure on the carbon button, which, in turn, causes variation in the electric current passing through the carbon button. The variations correspond to the amplitude and pitch of whatever sound is passing through the mouthpiece.

1938
Howard Aiken submits a formal proposal for the construction of an automatic calculating machine, later known as the Harvard Mark I, to Havard University President J.B. Conant. The proposal includes a history of the computers built by Charles Babbage and Herman Hollerith and a discussion of the features that would be required in a machine intended for scientific calculations.

1949
The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, premieres.

1969
The Star Trek episode “The Mark of Gideon” first airs. (No. 71) In it, Kirk is abducted and held aboard an abandoned duplicated of the Enterprise. Memory Alpha entry
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Comics

• Forbidden Planet talks with Alan Moore about Watchmen and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Film

• According to MTV, the Captain Marvel movie may still happen. I honestly don’t know if that’s good news or bad, though.
• John Scalzi talks about SciFi TV Series Become Movies That Fail, then pisses me off by naming Serenity.
• SciFi Wire takes a shot at predicting the best and worst films of 2009… as if anyone at the SciFi Channel has any right to judge other films with the crap they turn out.

Internet

• Deen of Geek has posted a gallery of the Top 50 Sexy Sci-fi Costumes.
• Is there racism inherent in Dungeons & Dragons? Flame Princess says no but seems to think that its a close thing.
• The Top 6 Things Overheard at the U.S.S. Enterprise Holiday Party.

Literature

• Free Fiction: An author by the name of joel Sieh is publish a fantasy story entitled “Iron and Ash” in installments on his blog.
• Free Fiction: Read “The People’s Machine” by Tobias S. Buckell over at Scribd.
• Free Fiction: Read “The People’s Machine” by Tobias S. Buckell over at Scribd.
• Bibliophile Stalker reflects that the discontinuation of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror anthology is the end of an era.
• Genreville asks publicists: What Do You Think of Book Trailers?
• Sadly, Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, my favorite magazine, has announced that, beginning in March, it will no longer be offered as a monthly publication, hitting stands bimonthly instead.

Television

• Brace yourself, Comedy Central is about to launch a new fantasy series, Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire.
• SciFi Wire has an exclusive clip of Sci Fi’s new series, Warehouse 13 if, some reason, you just can’t wait to see what turd the SciFi channel is about to squeeze out next.
• Topless Robot lists The 7 Sci-Fi Shows That Deserved Better Endings. While I personally think it would be easier to list sci-fi series that ended well, I totally disagree with their assertion that Quantum Leap should have ended differently. I thought the last episode was nearly perfect.

It is hardly surprising that children should enthusiastically start their education at an early age with the Absolute Knowledge of computer science; while they are unable to read, for reading demands making judgments at every line. … Conversation is almost dead, and soon so too will be those who knew how to speak.

- “Comments on the Society of the Spectacle” by Guy Debord, 1988.

1956
The United States government’s Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE), an automated air defense system, is disclosed to the public. The SAGE system connects hundreds of radar stations in Canada and the United States into the first large-scale computer communications network. With the increasing fear of a large-scale attack on the United States, it was evident that the nation’s defense capabilities required an improvement, and the Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was commissioned to develop an automated nationwide computer-based air defense system to provide the edge that the nation needed. SAGE was completed in the early sixties, and it revolutionized air defense and civilian air traffic control. In 1979, SAGE will be replaced by Regional Operations Control Centers (ROCC).

1961
The Bell System proposes a new service called TELPAK (TELecommunications PAcKage) which would create “electronic high-ways” between specific points, over which many types of communications might be transmitted.

1973
The USSR Lunakhod 2 lunar rover begins to survey the surface of the Moon via radio-control. The rover will make astronomical observations, measure magnetic fields, perform laser ranging experiments, and shoot video footage.

1978
While snowed in during the Great Chicago Snowstorm of 1978, Ward Christensen begins preliminary work on what will eventually become Computer Bulletin Board System (CBBS), the first Bulletin Board System (BBS). Christensen will collaborate with his friend Randy Suess. The entire system is conceived, designed, programmed, debugged, and tested in thirty days. between January 16 and February 16 1978.
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1956
The United States government’s Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE), an automated air defense system, is disclosed to the public. The SAGE system connects hundreds of radar stations in Canada and the United States into the first large-scale computer communications network. With the increasing fear of a large-scale attack on the United States, it was evident that the nation’s defense capabilities required an improvement, and the Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was commissioned to develop an automated nationwide computer-based air defense system to provide the edge that the nation needed. SAGE was completed in the early sixties, and it revolutionized air defense and civilian air traffic control. In 1979, SAGE will be replaced by Regional Operations Control Centers (ROCC).

1961
The Bell System proposes a new service called TELPAK (TELecommunications PAcKage) which would create “electronic high-ways” between specific points, over which many types of communications might be transmitted.

1973
The USSR Lunakhod 2 lunar rover begins to survey the surface of the Moon via radio-control. The rover will make astronomical observations, measure magnetic fields, perform laser ranging experiments, and shoot video footage.

1978
While snowed in during the Great Chicago Snowstorm of 1978, Ward Christensen begins preliminary work on what will eventually become Computer Bulletin Board System (CBBS), the first Bulletin Board System (BBS). Christensen will collaborate with his friend Randy Suess. The entire system is conceived, designed, programmed, debugged, and tested in thirty days. between January 16 and February 16 1978.
Read the rest of this entry » » »

There is never finality in the display terminal’s screen, but an irresponsible whimsicality, as words, sentences, and paragraphs are negated at the touch of a key. The significance of the past, as expressed in the manuscript by a deleted word or an inserted correction, is annulled in idle gusts of electronic massacre.

- A Mother Jones article entitled “Pull the Plug” by Alexander Cockburn, 1986.

You know, after watching this, the Batman Superman comic series seems much less plausible.

Source: Sci-Fi Heaven