The Great Geek Manual

The Internet is neither a magical kingdom nor a pirate nation of free speech and perfect artistic self-expression circling the earth beyond the reach of national laws. Nor is it an alien intrusion flooding a fragile human reality with orcs, kinky sex, and email scams from Nigerian bankers. The Internet is us. Once we accept this, it follows that we have a lot of work to do.

- “We Need to Learn to Become Digital Citizens” by Nick Harkaway, June 24, 2012.
Originally published by The Daily Beast.

Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to “Illimitable Dominion” by Kim Newman at Tales to Terrify.
• Listen to “Malak” by Peter Watts at StarShipSofa.
• Listen to “Volume out of Print” by Jim Cort at Cthulhupodcast.
• Listen to “We Never Talk About My Brother” by Peter S. Beagle at PodCastle.
• Listen to “The White Dog” by Fyodor Sologub at Pseudopod.
• Listen to “The Wrong Camera” by Catherine Ford at Peculiar Occurrences.

Comics and Graphic Novels

• Bleeding Cool offers a preview of Dinosaurs Vs Aliens
• Hollywood offers a preview of Hit-Girl

Read the rest of this entry » » »

1879
The first electric company in the U.S. to produce and sell electricity California Electric Light Company is established in San Francisco, California.

1905
Albert Einstein publishes the article “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies“, wherein he introduces the concept of special relativity.

1908
At around 7:15am, northwest of Lake Baikal, Russia, a huge fireball nearly as bright as the Sun is seen crossing the sky. Minutes later, there is a huge flash and a shock wave felt up to 400 miles (650km) away. Over Tunguska, a meteorite traveling at over 60,000mph (25km per second) penetrates Earth’s atmosphere, heats to about 10,000°C, and detonates 3 to 4 miles (6 to 10km) above the ground. The blast releases the energy of 10-50 Megatons of TNT, destroying 830 square miles (2,150 sq km) of forest (approximately 80 million trees) and leaving no trace of life. The Tunguska rock came out of the Taurid Meteor storm that crosses Earth’s orbit twice a year. Read more about The Tunguska Event.
Read the rest of this entry » » »

512
A solar eclipse is recorded by a monastic historian in Ireland.

1613
The original Globe Theatre in London, England burns down accidentally when a cannon discharged during a performance of William Shakespeare’s Henry VIII sets fire to the building’s thatched roof.

1888
Edison’s foreign sales agent, Colonel George Gouraud, makes a wax cylinder recording in the Crystal Palace, London of a four thousand person choir performing Handel’s Israel in Egypt at a distance of more than one hundred yards from the phonograph. It is the first “field” recording outside of a studio, as well as the first known recording of classical music.
Read the rest of this entry » » »

“The future excites me so much, that is why I made this video. We need to be inspired by the immense possibilities of the future and work extremely hard to achieve them. We can do it, we just have to commit.”

Art

• 3D Illusory Sketches by Nagai Hideyuki
• Eye of Sauron Cake
• A History of Manga
• Nathan Fillion as you’ve never seen him
• Surviving the World on the Catwoman cover

Comics

• News: DC Comics Partners With Barnes & Noble For Nook Releases [Direct]
• 10 Comics Characters Who Debuted Outside Comics
• The Many Origins of Spider-Man: A History

Read the rest of this entry » » »

Here’s a hilarious parody of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” lambasting the Star Wars movie franchise.

Source: Teddiefilms

“I’m in Love with Halo” is a parody of the One Direction music video “What Makes You Beautiful.” Created in anticipation of Halo 4 coming this November.