The Great Geek Manual

There’s only one season left before you fan boi love becomes dated and the wait for your pristinely boxed BSG merchandise’s value to increase begins. So revel in your BattleStar Galactica fandom while you still can!

This shirt in particular is just oblique enough of a reference to fall into that narrow categorization “Geek Chic.” It’s available now in black or white in sizes up to 2X Large for US$19.00 at enclothe.

If you’re looking for something a little more prosaic, check out the BattleStar Galactica t-shirts at BattleStar Online or at Stylin Online.

Visit the enclothe website.

• BMW Sport Touring Forums has posted some amazing photos of the assembly of Space Shuttle Discovery.
• TheBlogontheBookshelf is a blog all about… well, bookshelves. It sounds boring, but it’s actually fascinating to see how beautifully some people display their books.
• The Government of Tamil Nadu has posted an enormous array of freely downloadable school textbooks in both English and Tamil.
• Indopedia has posted a lists of Fictional Chemical Substances from comics, films, and television.
• Jeff Russell’s Starship Dimensions is a meticulous comparison of the relative sizes of the characters, space stations, and starships of the most popular science fiction franchises.
• Jeremy Harris Photography has posted a gallery of a seriously creepy Asylum.
• Think you’re a hardcore Chemistry geek? Sporcle asks Can you name the Elements of the Periodic Table?

1877
A pianist performs in Philadelphia, while an audience enjoys the performance in New York. The event is an important early demonstration of Alexander Graham Bell’s new invention, the telephone.

1914
The first episode of the silent film serial The Perils of Pauline premieres in New York. The cliffhanger serials shown in weekly installments feature Pearl White, a perpetual damsel in distress, as the title character. She is menaced by assorted villains, including pirates and Native Americans. At the end of each installment she is generally placed in a situation that looks sure to result in her imminent death. The start of the next episode shows how she is rescued or otherwise escapes the danger, only to face fresh peril again.

1930
The American Interplanetary Society (AIAA) is founded in New York City by G. Edward Pendray, David Lasser, and Laurence Manning, and nine others, for the “promotion of interst in and experimentation toward interplanetary expeditions and travel.” It will become known the American Rocket Society on April 6, 1934. Through the thirties, the group will design an experimental test stand and tested liquid-fueled rockets. Their pioneering experiments will lay the ground work for the United States space program. Their ARS-4 will be the first rocket launched in America to break the sound barrier on September 9, 1934. In early 1963, the society will merge with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
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At a press conference held last week in New York City, the cast and producers of Battlestar Galactica answered questions regarding the upcoming season of the series, which will premiere tomorrow night (April 4). At the press conference, Edward James Olmos, who plays Admiral William Adama on the series, said of the season, which will be the last of the series, “It’s devastating, don’t watch this program; it’s not an easy ride.”

The interview got me started thinking. What exactly would a fan of a television series that begins with the near-extermination of the human race consider “devastating?” Here are few possibilities:

10. The Galactica finally reaches Earth… of the eighties

9. The “Final Revelation?” The Cylons went to war without an exit strategy, and they still haven’t found a single WMD on the colonies.

8. Fans realize that in a very short time “Frak” will go the way of “Frell” and “Gorram.”

7. The twelfth model turns out to be yet another dude, God damn it.
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1449
The first English patent is granted to John of Utynam for the production of colored glass. King Henry VI grants the exclusive privilege for a period of twenty years, during which no English subjects imitate the manufacturing process with John of Utynam’s consent.

1776
Harvard College conferred the first honorary Doctor of Laws degree to George Washington.

1829
James Carrington of Wallingford, Connecticut, patents the coffee mill.

1860
The Pony Express begins mail service between Saint Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, with a pledge to “deliver the goods in ten days or less” at a price of US$5 an ounce per package. The Pony Express is the United States’ first high speed message system, but it will be put out of business just two years later by the proliferation of the telegraph.

1953
Following the acquisition of the Chicago, Illinois-based TV Forecast and similar television publications in New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C., Walter Annenberg publishes the TV Guide for the first time. The first issue features a photo of Lucille Ball’s second child, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, on the cover. Within the first year of the national magazine’s first publication, its circulation will exceed 1.5 million readers. Visit the official TV Guide website.
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Film

• Believe it or not, a film version of Halo is finally being written by G.I. Joe screenwriter Stuart Beattie. Even stranger? The news comes from The Latino Review.

Internet

• The A.V. Club features a list of 18 Fictional Drug from science fiction books and television series. Makes you start to think how many of our heroes have real substance abuse problems…
• Wizards Of Ur is a new comic sketch blog for fantasy lovers.

Literature

• Ben Hoyle of the Times Online believes that Internet book piracy will drive authors to stop writing. I personally believe the opinion is complete bull.
• Free Fiction: RawVoice.com has posted the short story Come Lady Death by Peter S. Beagle as read by the author.
• Free Fiction: Tor has released Lord of the Isles by David Drake as a PDF.
• Free Fiction: WonderAudio has posted the short story Starborn by Andre Norton as an mp3.
• L.E. Modesitt Jr. has posted his thoughts on the future of science fiction in a blog entry titled, The SF Future: More of the Same — Except Better or Worse?

Television

• Hulu has posted nine episodes of the cult classic Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, an American dub of the popular Japanese television series. And let me just say this: Giant Flying Robots.
• Flash Gordon has been canceled by the Sci-Fi Channel, though no official announcement has yet been made.