The Great Geek Manual

Hardcover Book Releases

The Authorized Ender Companion by Orson Scott Card and Jake Black
Burn Me Deadly: An Eddie LaCrosse Novel by Alex Bledsoe
Destroyer of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner
The Early Work of Philip K. Dick, Volume 2 by Philip K. Dick
Jaclyn the Ripper by Karl Alexander
The Lippolik Conundrum by Kami Dee Helm
Magic in the Shadows: An Allie Beckstrom Novel by Devon Monk
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: The Pathfinder Bestiary by Jason Bulmahn
Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove and Sheila Williams
Star Trek: The Art of the Film by Mark Cotta Vaz and J. J. Abrams
Torch of Freedom (Honorverse) by David Weber and Eric Flint
Under the Dome: A Novel by Stephen King
Wings of Creation (The Silver Ship) by Brenda Cooper
A Young Man Without Magic by Lawrence Watt-Evans
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Art

• Six Revisions has posted a gallery of 50 Stunning Pieces of Video Game Concept Art.
• Empire has posted a gallery featuring The Art Of Star Wars.

Comics

• Smallville writer Bryan Q. Miller Introduces DC’s New Batgirl.
• Topless Robot picks The 5 Best and 5 Worst New Post-Brand New Day Spider-Man Villains

Film

• Gunaxin counts down The 15 Best Prison Movies, beginning with Cool Hand Luke.
• Screen Junkies looks at the 10 Best Boxes from Movies and TV.
• Super Tremendous has posted The 15 Worst Bootleg DVD Covers Of All Time.

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1882
Alexander Graham Bell is granted US citizenship by the Supreme Court after his second application.

1951
A trial run of long distance customer dialing is offered in Englewood, New Jersey. It’s the very first direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service in the United States. To inaugurate the service, Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood calls Mayor Frank Osborn in Alameda, California. They begin to talk just eighteen seconds after dialing. Before the service, coast-to-coast calls could only be placed by long-distance operators. To facilitate the change, three digits are added to phone numbers.

1961
Neil Armstrong sets a new speed record speed in an X-15 rocket plane, at 6,587km/h. Visit the X-15′s official website.

1966
The Star Trek episode “The Corbomite Maneuver” first airs. (No. 10) In it, the Enterprise is threatened by Balok, commander of a starship from the First Federation. Memory Alpha entry

1967
The Star Trek episode “Metamorphosis” first airs. (Episode 38, Production 31) In it, Kirk finds Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive, who has been missing for 150 years and his mysterious alien companion. Memory Alpha entry
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In the future, the importance of geography will be matched by the importance of values and ideas.

- Nationhood: The future of Nationalism by Alan Smith

Saturday Night Live finally made Twilight cool by replacing the uber-emo vampires with real monster heartthrobs. Why don’t mummies get sexxy romance novels, movies, or television series?

Art

• Comic Alliance mashes up X-Men and Mad Men.
• Fandomania has posted a gallery of Firefly artwork from DevianArt.
• io9 has posted a gallery of images of nature reclaiming a creepy Post Apocalyptic Disney World.

Comics

• MTV has a preview of the new Zack Whedon Dr. Horrible comic series!

Film

• Interview: Michael Caine discusses his upcoming “urban western.”
• News: Rumors claim that director Bryan Singer has begun preproduction on a proposed new Battlestar Galactica movie.
• The new movie posters for Kick-Ass are out and they kind of… well, you know.
• ScreenHead counts down the Top 10 sci-fi films that were ahead of their time, starting with Gattaca.

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Damn straight. That’s why Jesus sits at the top of the hierarchy. Eat of his flesh, bitch.

Source: The Huffington Post

1842
The first US design patent is issued for typefaces and borders to George Bruce of New York City. (US No. D1) This new form of patent was authorized by Act of Congress on August 29, 1842.

1921
Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the photoelectric effect.

1946
Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC) is shut down for refurbishment and a memory upgrade. It will be transferred to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland in 1947.

1957
Gordon Gould records conjecture on the principles of what he calls a laser in a notebook on a sleepless Saturday night. The following Wednesday, he will have a notary witness and date his notebook in which he describes what he calls “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation,” or, the “laser.” However, it will take more than thirty years of litigation before Gould will receive recognition for his concept.
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