The Great Geek Manual

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson in Journals, November 11, 1842.

1890
Two US patents for the first jukebox are issued to Louis Glass and his business associate, William S. Arnold, describing a “coin actuated attachment for phonographs.” (US No. 428,750, -1) Their first jukebox is a coin-operated Edison Class M Electric Phonograph with an oak cabinet, and it will first be placed in the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco, California. For a nickel a play, a patron could listen using one of four listening tubes. (Because vacuum tubes haven’t been invented, the device doesn’t feature any amplification.) Dubbed the “Nickel-in-the-Slot,” the machine is an instant success, earning over US$1,000 in less than half a year.

1931
The first full scale US wind tunnel for testing airplanes is opened at the Langley Field Research Center in Virginia. In the thirty foot high sixty foot wide tunnel, the aerodynamics of full-size airplanes can be tested in air speeds up to 115mph. The air is driven by two propellers downstream, each over 35 feet in diameter, powered by 4,000hp electric motors. Over the next sixty-five years, tests will be run on helicopters, the Mercury space capsule, parachutes, parafoils, the occasional dirigible, and the fastest submarine in the world. Generations of aircraft will passed through the full-scale tunnel. NASA will close the tunnel in October 1995.

Auguste Piccard and Charles Knipfer become the first men to enter into the stratosphere when they ride their balloon to an altitude of 51,800 feet, nearly ten miles above the Earth. The feat requires the use of a pressurized cabin, which Piccard designed. On-board experiments include the use of an electroscope to investigate cosmic rays.
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Movie: “Terminator Salvation”
Director: McG

Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language.
Release: May 21, 2009
Running Time: 2 hrs 10 min
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter… IMDB listing

Verdict:

Terminator Salvation follows very closely in the footsteps of its predecessors. It opens with an intriguing twist. An hour of some of the most innovative action scenes Hollywood has to offer advance the plot. Robots stalk humans. Things explode in new, unexpected ways. Humans flees. Robots chase. Then, the movie ends on a heart-warming but ominously foreboding note.

Fans of the first three Terminator films will definitely want to see this movie. It is an awesome action film – probably the best 2009 will have to offer. It’s packed from end-to-end with state of the art special effects and spectacular action sequences. However, those walking into the theater with high expectations are going to leave disappointed. Terminator Salvation doesn’t come any closer to being the Matrix than its predecessors, despite the secret hopes harbored by so many fans.

Synopsis:

Official: Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.
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Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

- Thomas Edison

1676
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek uses his own homemade microscopes from his own handmade lenses to observe water running off a roof during a heavy rainstorm. He discovers that it contains, “very little animalcules” that were not present in pure rainwater. The fundamental discovery demonstrates that the bacteria doesn’t fall from the sky. Leeuwenhoek will continue to use his crude lenses to describe an amazing world of microscopic life.

1874
Thomas Edison is issued a patent for a device concerning “Automatic Telegraphy and in Perforators Therefor.” (US No. 151,209) This is just one of many patents on telegraphy he obtains early in his career, beginning in 1868. The device produces a message directly onto a strip of paper that could be folded and sent to its destination using a 5 x 5 square of punch wires.

1930
Song of a Nightingale is broadcast live by the BBC from a wood in Berkshire.

1931
A microfilm camera is patented by New York City banker George L. McCarthy. (US No. 1,806,763) He developed the first practical commercial microfilm use in the twenties and was issued a patent in 1925 for his Checkograph machine, which was designed to make permanent film copies of bank records as a fraud deterrent.
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Youtuber jaronpitts stitched together from twenty-eight sources to create this brilliant fan-made trailer that very convincingly casts Firefly’s Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern. It’s not only absolutely amazing but also deftly CG enhanced. I can only imagine that this took hours upon hours of work.

Source: YouTube via The Nerdist

From Around the Web

6 Ways To Sync Music To Your iPhone Without iTunes – By default, iTunes is the only media player that you can use to sync your iPhone and iPod Touch with your computer. However, iTunes is only supported in Mac and Windows, which means Linux users with iPhones will have to find an alternative way to sync their iPhones, or at least get their music into the mobile device.

10 Twitter Hacks For Your Wordpress Blog – Twitter on the brain? These hacks may be for you. Twitter is, afterall, a powerful marketing and promotion tool that no active blogger can ignore.

30 Tutorials On Converting A PSD To XHTML And CSS – 30 of the best tutorials on web for converting A PSD to a XHTML & CSS layout. These tutorials you will learn the process on how to create a Photoshop web layout and be able to convert it into a valid XHTML & CSS web page.

Is A Terminator Scenario Possible? – H+ asks several roboticists, AI workers, SF writers, and other techie types a simple-minded question. Is a Terminator-like scenario possible? And if so, how likely is it?

Mac Hacks: 17 AppleScripts To Make Your Life Easier – Quite a few AppleScripts are available on the Web, ready for you to use, so you don’t even need to look at their code. This article presents you with 17 of the most useful ones.

“Repurpose” Documentary Video – A video that reveals some of the brilliant hacking scene in Montreal, centering on the Foulab collective and hackspace.

Why Isn’t Wireless Net Access Available Everywhere? – You might remember a time when everyone—from telco giants to corner coffee shops—was furiously serving up Wi-Fi. McDonald’s became an Internet café, and dozens of municipalities nationwide were racing to set up open hot spots. Your broadband connection was about to be as portable as your cell phone. That was like five years ago.

Windows 7: The Complete Guide (Now With RC1!) – Here’s everything of value that has been learned about Win 7, packed in a complete, easy-to-read guide.
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Art

• The SteamPunk Fashion LiveJournal has posted a photo gallery of the Coalition of Rather Unusual Denizens or C.R.U.D.

Film

• 21 Amazing Movie Posters made with Lego.
• Astonishingly, Museum 2 beat out Terminator 4 over the weekend, making me wonder if this might be quits for the Terminator film franchise.
• Linda Hamilton talks Christian Bale and Terminator, joking “I’m ashamed to call myself his mother!”
• M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming The Last Airbender is currently shooting in and around Philadelphia. WTF? Check out the production shots.
• Popular Mechanics runs down The 5 Geekiest Sci-Fi Movies at Sundance 2009.
• The Sprout Blog rounds up a few positive reviews for Terminator Salvation.

Internet

• The award-winning online sitcom The Guild is being released on DVD.
• Declare your love of the new Trek revival and get your ass beaten daily at school, as you Boldly Step Where No Fanboy Has Gone Before
• 5 Five Reasons Flying Cars Will Remain Unavailable.

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