The Great Geek Manual

So the thing to remember is this: the web is huge and very important, but it’s just one of the many things that run on the internet. The net is much bigger and far more important than anything that travels on it. Understand this simple distinction and you’re halfway to wisdom.

- “The internet: Everything you ever need to know” by John Naughton, June 20, 2010.

Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to “Broken Bough” by Daniel I. Russell at Pseudopod.
• Listen to “My Father’s Singularity” by Brenda Cooper at Clarkesworld.
• Listen to “The Goats are Going Places” by Tina Connolly at PodCastle.
• Listen to “The Moment” By Lawrence M. Schoen at Escape Pod.
• Listen to “On the Human Plan” by Jay Lake at Infinivox.
• Listen to “Pressure” by Jeff Carlson at StarShipSofa.

Comics and Graphic Novels

• Enjoy this five page preview for Angel #34 courtesy of CBR.

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Art

• 2010: a Toy Odyssey
• Buy the TARDIS… if you’re rich.
• Check out this Pixar/Star Wars mashup.
• Geek Art Gallery points the way to fan art of Doctor Who as an owl (Dr. Hoo).
• Salon is asking Are video games the next great art form?
• Yanko Design has an article on Fifteen Visually Stunning Architectural Delights.
• Xenomorphs want you for your body, but Zombies want you for your brains.

Comics

• Like Me Daily picks 10 Comic Books That Aren’t for Nerds.
• Mania names 10 Handicapped Comic Book Heroes Who Can Kick Ass.

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1768
The first commencement of a US medical college is held at the College of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. Its Department of Medicine was established in 1765 and was the first medical school in the United States.

1808
French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac announces the isolation of the element Boron, nine days ahead of Englishman Humphry Davy, who independently separated boron and made his own announcement on June 30, 1808.

1851
Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzk play a recreational game of chess, which, by virtue of a series of bold sacrifices, goes down in history as the immortal game, one of the greatest games in chess literature. In the course of the game, Anderssen sacrifices both of his rooks as well as his queen before finally checkmating his opponent with his three remaining minor pieces.
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Because today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups… So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing.

- “How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” by Philip K. Dick, 1978.

Fishing around for my weekly quotes yesterday, I came across a line that’s been rapidly spreading across Tumblr:

Anything I need to know I can find on a website that I can access from almost anywhere. I can’t say “I don’t know” anymore. I can only say, “I don’t know YET.”

Is that the perfect embodiment of the information age or what? The comment comes from a Reddit thread on “We are living in the future” moments.

1214
The University of Oxford receives its chartered.

1840
Samuel F.B. Morse receives a patent for his “Telegraph Symbols,” known as Morse code. (US No. 1,647)

1877
Alexander Graham Bell installs the world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In the first month, Bell will sell only six telephones. By September, 778 telephones will be in use.

1926
Herr Schaetzle demonstrates a wireless phone for automobiles in Berlin, Germany.
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