Motivational Posters: Prawned
I tried a few captions about the stupidity of underestimating a space-faring race, but nothing quite fit. Suggest your own captions below.
This Day in Geek History: September 10
1858
George Mary Searle discovers the asteroid 55 Pandora.
1960
Japan begins transmitting regular color television programming using the NTSC system. It’s the third country to adopt the system after Cuba and the United States.
1984
Alec Jeffreys discovers Genetic fingerprinting accidentally while studying genetic markers across generations as a method of tracking patterns of inherited illness in families.
1988
Home Vision Entertainment releases the documentary Comic Book Confidential, directed by Ron Mann and starring Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, William M. Gaines, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Frank Miller. The Canadian documentary film surveys the history of comic books in the US from the thirties through the eighties and features interviews with some of the foremost names in the industry. The film will receive the prestigious 1989 Genie Award for Best Documentary. It is also one of the first films to ever be released in CD-ROM format for home computer viewing. Visit the film’s official website.
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Geek Quote of the Day
Amidst all the attention given to the sciences as to how they can lead to the cure of all diseases and daily problems of mankind, I believe that the biggest breakthrough will be the realization that the arts, which are conventionally considered ‘useless,’ will be recognized as the whole reason why we ever try to live longer or live more prosperously. The arts are the science of enjoying life.
Picture of the Week: Welcome to the Disney Family
Though this top secret memo welcoming Marvel Entertainment to the Disney family is purely conjecture, there is no doubt in my mind that the results of this acquisition are going to be both unfortunate and hilarious.
Link Round-Up: September 9, 2009
Resources
10 Things you should know about moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 – If you skipped Windows Vista and stuck with Windows XP, chances are good that you are now seriously considering moving to Windows 7 after it’s released on October 22. Not only should you begin planning for your operating system migration, but you should begin learning as much as you can about Windows 7.
50 Greatest Apple Wallpapers – Check it out. Blaberize has posted 50 downloaded desktop images featuring Apple’s iconic logo.
Build an analog TV station – With the transition to digital TV, the FCC has abandoned the old analog format. Luckily, you can take advantage of this and set up your own analog TV station. The FCC has a tool on their site to see what channels are open in your area to broadcast in.
Build your Own File Server – Intac walks you through the simple process of building your own Ubuntu-run stack.
Fonolo – Maybe the best website ever, Fonolo calls to large, impersonal corporations, presses the right buttons and stays on hold for you until a human comes on the line. Then your phone rings and voilà, you can talk to a live person about your account. Fonolo even gives you the option to record your conversation as an MP3, just in case your chat with customer support becomes an argument.
Freenet – free software which lets you anonymously share files, browse and publish “freesites” (web sites accessible only through Freenet) and chat on forums, without fear of censorship. Freenet is decentralised to make it less vulnerable to attack, and if used in “darknet” mode, where users only connect to their friends, is very difficult to detect.
Hierarchy of Digital Distractions – Information is Beautiful presents a Maslow-esque pyramid of electronic priorities in the social life of the average web addict. Beautifully designed.
How to Build a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, Start to Finish – LifeHacker has a great update on it’s classic tutorial on how to run OS X on a PC. This version actually involves less work than the previous version.
inumbr – A great service that provides users with free, temporary, and anonymous phone numbers. Similar to e-mail forwarding services. If you’ve been nervous about giving out your phone number for fear of getting put on telemarketing lists, bookmark this now.
YourHackerz.com – I never thought services like this were legitimate, but evidently they are, if this article is to be believed. For just a hundred dollars, they claim to be able to get the password of basically any free e-mail service.
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Free Fiction Round-Up: September 8, 2009
Audio Fiction and Podcasts
- Listen to Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Short Mystery Story Collection 005 at LibriVox.
- Listen to “Spirit Dump” by Lawrence Watt Evans at the StarShipSofa.
Flash and Micro Fiction
- Read the flash fiction story “Fireflies in a Jar” by Jennifer C. Brown.
- Read the flash fiction story “Shiver” by Lori Titus at Flashes in the Dark.
- Read the microfiction story “The Beauty” by Gargi Mehra at Everyday Fiction.
- Read the microfiction story “Remembrance” by Naomi Johnson at A Twist of Noir.
Novels and Preview Chapters
- Download science fiction novel Binary by by Jay Caselberg at ManyBooks.net.
- Read an excerpt of Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson at SF Signal.
Geek Media Round-Up: September 9, 2009
Comics
- GeekDad rounds-up 6 Cool Comics with Decidedly Different Heroes.
- Total Film’s article 10 Movies You Didn’t Know Were Comics is clear evidence they aren’t writing for comicbook geeks, because I knew and read most of these comic.
Film
- News: MGM has been ordered to pay the Tolkien estate US$100 Million.
- During a Dragon Con interview it was revealed that Patrick Stewart may return to X-Men, but he’s through with Star Trek.
- This Mary Poppins Recut Trailer is makes Disney’s classic look like an awesome suspense thriller.
- Total Film looks back at The 28 Most Horrifying Movie Moments, climaxing in Angel’s scene in Scarface.
Internet
- Don’t miss these 10 Upcoming Speculative Fiction Conventions.
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Media Releases for the Week of September 7, 2009
Book Releases
- Absolute V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Vertigo. (ISBN-13: 978-1401223618 Graphic Novel. Length: 396pp - The Ask and the Answer: Chaos Walking: Book Two by Patrick Ness
Candlewick. (ISBN-13: 978-0763644901) Hardcover. Length: 528pp - Decay Inevitable
Solaris. (ISBN-13: 978-1844167487) Hardcover. Length: 416pp - Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Baen. (ISBN-13: 978-1439132876) Hardcover. Length: 384pp - The Serrano Succession by Elizabeth Moon
Baen. (ISBN-13: 978-1439132890) Paperback. Length: 768pp
