The Great Geek Manual

1683
Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek sends a report of his discovery of microscopic living animalcules (live bacteria) to the Royal Society. He describes observations made on the plaque between his own teeth, “a little white matter, which is as thick as if ’twere batter.” Leeuwenhoek reports, “I then most always saw, with great wonder, that in the said matter there were many very little living animalcules, very prettily a-moving. The biggest sort… had a very strong and swift motion, and shot through the water (or spittle) like a pike does through the water. The second sort… oft-times spun round like a top… and these were far more in number.”

1789
William Herschel discovers Mimas, a moon of Saturn.

1822
At the French Academie Royale des Inscriptions, Jean-François Champollion reads a paper, Lettre a M. Dacier, describing his solution to the mystery of the triple inscriptions of the Rosetta Stone which was unearthed by Napoleon’s army near the Rosetta branch of the Nile on July of 1799. Read more about the Rosetta Stone. Read the English translation of the Rosetta Stone.

1844
The first US patent is issued for a printing press with different colors of ink applied in one impression. (US No. 3,744) The inventor, Thomas F. Adams of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, calls the process “polychrome printing.” The process uses several ink fountains feeding different color rollers operated in parallel on the same axle, to produce stripes of different colors of ink.
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Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to “Two Dreams On Trains” by Elizabeth Bear and more at StarShipSofa.

Comics and Graphic Novels

• The vintage comic “Buck Rogers: Mysterious Saturnian” is online at Comicrazys.

Flash and Micro Fiction

• Read the “The Robot Whisperer” by Brian C Baer over at 365Tomorrows.

Novels and Preview Chapters

• Cory Doctorow’s formerly serialized novel Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town is now online in its entirety. If you haven’t read it, you should..
• Read The First Chapter of “The Gathering Storm” by Robert Jordan free online now.

Serial Fiction

• Chapter Nineteen of “Slave Trade” by Susan Wright at Book View Cafe.
• Part Six of “The Price of Vengeance” by Abner Senires at Kat and Mouse.

Short Stories

• Download the space opera novelette “The Storm” by A E van Vogt at BaenCD.
• Read “The Alchemist’s Feather” by Erin Cashier at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• Read humorous short story “Attention, People of Earth” by Paul Simms soon to be published in latest edition of The New Yorker.
• Read “Images of Anna” by Nancy Kress at Fantasy Magazine.
• Read “The Promise” by Sonny Whitelaw at Afterburn SF.
• Read “The Puzzle Box” by Chris Tissell at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• Read “The Yeast of Eire” by Alaya Dawn Johnson at Strange Horizons.

Vintage Fiction

• Download the short story “One Martian Afternoon” by Tom Leahy at Manybooks.
• Download the short story “Weak on Square Roots” by Russell Burton at Manybooks.

Art

• Marciotakara is one of those artists whose Deviant Art gallery deserves a bookmark, especially for comic fans. Right now, she’s got some great character art out.

Film

• News: Mark Millar Promises Kick-Ass 2 Set Up in Kick-Ass 1, which is good news so far as I’m concerned.
• Empire spells out Hollywood’s 10 Rules Of Time Travel. Is it just me, or are these different in the Star Trek universe?
• TotalFilm ponders 8 Spider-Man Villains For Bruce Campbell to play in the upcoming film.

Internet

• According to io9, the best cities are The Cities You Can Never Leave.
• In a recent CNBC interview, 50 Cent explained that Piracy Is A Part Of The Marketing. I have to say, it’s a really refreshing response from a music star.
• Newsarama counts down 10 of Fiction’s Biggest Brains.

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I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.

- Poul Anderson (Sometimes referred to as Anderson’s Law.

1662
John Flamsteed records his first astronomical observations during a solar eclipse from his home in Derby at the age of sixteen. He corresponds with other astronomers regarding the observations, beginning a long career that will eventually lead him to become the Astronomer Royal of England.

1835
Charles Darwin arrives at the Galapagos Islands aboard the HMS Beagle. Over the coming five weeks, he will study the wildlife, which will inspire his theory of natural selection.

1908
Automotive manufacturer General Motors is founded. Visit the official GM website.

1982
According to Twin Galaxies, Matt Brass scores a record-setting 425,230 points playing the arcade game Deluxe at the Modern West arcade in Helena, Montana. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.

1983
Imagic eliminates forty of its one hundred seventy employees, due to the slowdown in the video game industry.
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Wow. It’s a sure sign that the pain of 9/11 is beginning to wear thin when they start working the event into parodies. Still, great video.

Source: College Humor

Art

• Geeks of Doom has posted a gallery of 25 Cosplay Babes of Dragon*Con 2009, but they are all beat hands down by The Best Poison Ivy Costume of All Time.
• Worth 1000 has an excellent gallery of Marvel/Disney Hybrids.

Comics

• Oops, wait! Spider-Man’s Villains: Not Rapists, Says Creator… just a naked cuddler.

Film

• News: Bruce Campbell to Play Mysterio in “Spider-Man 4″?
• An open letter to all Michael Bay fans regarding Megan Fox’s behavior on set has commenters speculating on its true source. Personally, I don’t think I’d want to work with either of these people.
• Entertainment Weekly counts down the 21 Worst Comic-Book Movies, starting with The Spirit.
• io9 spells out Shane Acker’s 9 Rules For Creating Great Post-Apocalyptic Movies, none of which are “The slutty girl dies first.” So technically, these don’t apply to horror films.
• Rotten Tomatoes looks back at 25 Memorable Slasher Starlets starting with Janet Leigh.

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