Geek Quote of the Day
Living in dreams of yesterday, we find ourselves still dreaming of impossible future conquest…
Archive for February, 2010
Geek Media Round-Up: February 23, 2010
Art
- Check out the Star Wars art Dagobaths Au Printemps! and We Sell Used Cars And Droids.
- Edward Pun has posted a sketch of a (District 9) Santa Prawn.
- Russian LARPERs, it turns out, take their roleplaying MUCH more seriously than we do.
Comics
This Day in Geek History: February 23
1455
This is the traditionally accepted anniversary date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed using movable type. View pictures of the Gutenberg Bible.
1893
Rudolf Diesel receives a German patent for the diesel engine. He will have produced an actual prototype of the engine for testing by July 1893. The engine is designed to be fueled by powdered coal injected with compressed air. Read more about diesel engines at How Stuff Works.
Read more about the history of diesel engines at Powerpedia. See Rudolph Diesel’s first engine on display at the Deutches Museum, Munich.
1896
The Tootsie Roll is introduced to the US by Austrian immigrant Leo Hirshfield at a small store in New York City. He names the chewy chocolate candy after his five-year-old daughter, Clara, whose nickname is “Tootsie.” The Tootsie Roll is America’s first individually wrapped penny candy. By 1905, production will be moved to a four-story factory. During World War II, Tootsie Rolls will be added to the rations of American soldiers because of their ability to withstand severe weather conditions and give quick energy. Tootsie Rolls are made from a base of sugar, corn syrup, soy-bean oil, skim milk and cocoa. Read more about the history of the Tootsie Roll at the official Tootsie Roll website.
1910
The first radio contest is held in Philadelphia, Philadelphia.
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Geek Quote of the Day
There is too much good history and good experience with the end-to-end internet to see it largely overturned. Openness has its own virtues and those who resist it will fall behind those who enable it. Users will rise up if there are too many restrictions that get in the way of the information they want and the content they want to create.
- - Part 4 of “The structure of the Internet
,” a report issued by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Free Fiction Round-Up: February 22, 2010
Audio Fiction and Podcasts
- Listen to “The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi at StarshipSofa.
- Listen to “Three Days and Nights In Lord Darkdrake’s Hall” by Leah Bobet at PodCastle.
Comics and Graphic Novels
- Vertigo has posted the prequel to its I, Zombie series, entitled “Trick or Treat.”
Novels and Preview Chapters
- Pyr is offering a preview of Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
- Read a the first chapter of Kim Harrison’s upcoming Black Magic Sanction.
- Tor Forge is offering previews of many of its upcoming March releases, including , including Michael Moorcock’s The MadGod’s Amulet.
- Vera Nazarian is offering an excerpt of her book, Mansfield Park and Mummies.
Media Releases for the Week of February 22, 2010
Paperback Book Releases
The Folding Knife by K. J. Parker
Geosynchron (Book Three of the Jump 225 Trilogy) by David Louis Edelman
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
Xombies: Apocalypticon by Walter Greatshell
DVD Releases
Beyond Sherwood Forest
Erica Durance of Smallville does a SyFy movie. In it Maid Marian and Robin Hood defend England from the the Sheriff of Nottingham’s dragons. Yeah. You should have stopped reading at “SyFy.” Did the producers not grasp the concept of hit points?!
The Box
You know the story it’s based on. You know it stars Cameron Diaz. Why do you pretend you’re not going to rent it. They already know you are. That’s why they didn’t bother trying very hard. Read the rest of this entry » » »
Geek Media Round-Up: February 22, 2010
Art
- Cliff Chiang has posted a set of vintage-style Star Wars Armed Forces posters.
- GorillaArtFare has posted an image of a Steam Punk Speeder Bike by Bjorn Hurri.
- Naldz Graphics has posted a gallery of 33 Kickass Iron Man Artworks for Inspiration.
- ToyCutter is a blog specializing in tutorials on how to paint miniatures.
Film
- Interview: Director James Cameron talks with PBS’s own Charlie Rose.
- News: Vampire Hunter D Could Get A Live Action Movie. Whether this is good news or bad is yet to be seen. (Remember Death Note?)
- News: Wal-Mart acquires online movie service Vudu
- According to PhysOrg, Hollywood movies follow a mathematical formula that lets them match the effects of their shots to the attention spans of their audiences.
- Den of Geek already has a list of demands for the World of Warcraft movie.
- Is it fair to call Alice in Wonderland The Ruination Of Johnny Depp?
- It’s been done before and it’ll be done again, but people can’t stop talking about The Top 10 Worst Comic Book Movies of the Decade.
- Rotten Tomatoes names The 12 Craziest Movie Mental Patients in honor of this weekend’s blockbuster, Shutter Island.
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Photo: John Rylands Library
If I lived anywhere near the John Rylands Library, I think that I would periodically sneak in just to check if it weren’t secretly a wizard school… then, I think I would accuse of them being a wizard’s school just to see if I could rattle their cage.
Also, I think if I lived anywhere near the John Rylands Library, they’d probably take a restraining order out against me in pretty short order.
Source: gary995′s Flickr photostream
