The Great Geek Manual

How can carbon atoms string themselves into amino acids, which entwine into proteins, which compose living cells of great complexity — and the cells form an algae, or a cricket, or a person? How can a combination of amino acids write a symphony, or draft the Bill of Rights, or achieve a moon landing, or feel patriotism for a segment of Earth’s crust likewise made of atoms?

- The Dreams of which Stuff is Made by James A. Haught, Sunday Gazette-Mail, January 10, 1993.

Book: Seeing is Believing
ISBN-13: 978-1893951457

Series: Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Publisher: Ripley Publishing
Genre: Non-Fiction / Trivia
Release: August 4, 2009
Length: 256 pages (Hardcover)

Verdict

Ripley’s latest offering is an supersized coffee table book of photos and infobytes that looks as if it were designed for kids with A.D.D. and reads like a Twitter feed. It’s eye-catching design makes it all but impossible not to pick up, and it’s thousands of bits of trivia make it a real page-turner. Though it’s aimed at a younger audience, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Seeing Is Believing would be a great centerpiece for coffee tables, waiting rooms, or anywhere else you frequently need to kill time and stave off boredom.

As a long time fan of the franchise, I’m confident in saying that this installment is definitely one of the better Ripley’s collection, the entire hardback series (of which this is the sixth) is a vast improvement over the old paperback series, even if it does look like it should be a pop-up book, judging from the cover.

Synopsis

Official: This all new 6th title in the best selling Ripley’s Believe It or Not! annual series, is a compendium of incredible bizarre facts, stories, interviews and features all presented in a stunning bright new design.

This year’s book also features icons that guide readers to astounding video clips on our new fully-integrated website, where they can see some of our subjects in action. Also, a dramatic eight-page gatefold section presents some extraordinary performers of the past, and additional black and white Ripley archive photographs feature throughout the book.

Be amazed at the dentist with no arms, the snake that swallowed a wallaby, an underwater sculptor and a four-eared cat! For the legions of dedicated Ripley’s fans, and anyone else on the planet who loves unbelievable facts and jaw-dropping images, the latest annual in this successful series is a feast of delights.
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A great book provides escapism for me. The artistry and the creativity in a story are better than any drugs.

- Wentworth Miller

1609
Galileo Galilei first demonstrates his telescope.

1889
The first ship-to-shore wireless message received in the US is, “Sherman is sighted.” The message, sent from Lightship No. 70, announces the arrival of the US Army troopship Sherman from the battlefields of the Spanish-American War to a crowd assembled at the Cliff House in San Francisco. This is the first nineteenth century use of wireless telegraphy, which will later be known as radio, outside of England.

1956
Bell Laboratories announces their experiment with a “picture phone” transmission that sends pictures along with sound over regular telephone lines.

1962
First live television connection between the United States and Europe, via the Telstar satellite.

1966
The robotic Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
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When you can’t do something smart, do something right.

- Serenity, 2005
Character: Jayne Cobb

565
St. Columba allegedly saves the life of a Pict who was being attacked by a monster in Loch Ness. The account will later be recorded in the book Life of St. Columba by Adamnan. It is the beginning of the Loch Ness Monster myth. Adamnan recounts the event in the book, “…(He) raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, “Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.” Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes, though it had just got so near to Lugne, as he swam, that there was not more than the length of a spear-staff between the man and the beast.”

1901
The Cadillac Motor Company is founded.

1906
The Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey, manufactures its first Victrola record player. The devices, including the hand cranked unit and horn cabinet will sell for US$200. It stands out from other phonographs with its elegant wooden cabinet, which conceals the device’s horn and turntable while providing storage space for records. The cabinet, which is available is several contemporary styles, is an innovation that will be imitated by later entertainment systems, including radios and televisions.

1911
The theft of the Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum in Paris, France the previous night is discovered.
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Film

• The first trailer for Avatar is online now! It looks a LOT more like fantasy than sci-fi. Hmmm. The Sprout Blog reacts with a list of 10 Movies Avatar Unfortunately Resembles.
• Mashable argues that Twitter Can Bury a Movie. It Can Also Make it a Success.
• Pajiba looks back at The 11 Oldest Actors to Play Teenagers over the years.
• Publisher Weekly looks at Taking Millar’s “Kick Ass” from Page to Screen.
• Taki Magazine argues that District 9 is not an Apartheid allegory.

Internet

• io9 looks back at Dirt-Cheap Aliens Who Still Look Awesome.
• ISS points out some Common Supervillain Blunder.
• MSN claims that Science fiction’s robotics laws need reality check, saying that Asimov’s Three Laws don’t recognize current limitations… and evidently not realizing that they’re pretend.
• New Scientist looks at Why Geeks get the Girls. Note to self: Have this list made into a t-shirt for next night out.

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1888
William Seward Burroughs of St. Louis, Missouri receives four patents for the first successful “Calculating-Machine.” (US No. 388,116-388,119) One year after making his first patent application on January 10, 1885, he incorporated his business as the American Arithmometer Corporation of St. Louis, with an authorized capitalization of US$100,000. Within a year, he will produce fifty machines. The machines will ultimately prove difficult to use but Burroughs will continue to improve on them and go on to become a pioneer of the calculator industry.

1903
A twelve horsepower single-cylinder Model F Packard driven by “Tommy” Fetch from the Packard Motor Car works automobile arrives in New York City, completing a cross-country trip from San Francisco, California. Fetch, along with journalist Marius Krarup left San Fransisco on June 21, after dipping the car’s rear wheels in the Pacific Ocean. The pair traveled for fifty-one days at an average of almost eighty miles a day. They crossed the Utah desert and the Colorado mountains, and, according to the New York Times, replaced only three tires and a broken front spring during the course of the journey. Vermont doctor Horatio Nelson and mechanic Crocker Sewell had completed a similar but longer trip in a Winton car in July.

1911
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, France by a Louvre employee. It will finally be recovered in 1913.

1969
Ralph Baer files a patents for creating a “Television Gaming Apparatus and Method.” This is just one of many pieces that will later become a component of the Magnavox Odyssey.
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