The Great Geek Manual

1848
First railway bookstall is opened at the Euston station, in London by W.H. Smith.

1879
Thomas Edison patents the electric lamp.

1884
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is adopted universally at a meeting of the International Meridian Conference in Washington, DC. The International Date Line is then drawn up and the twenty-four time zones are created.

1887
Eleven years after the phone was invented, the first differentiation between day and night long distance rates goes into effect, with night rates in most, but not all, instances lower than day rates.
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Happy Halloween!

1912
The Musketeers of Pig Alley, directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Elmer Booth, Lillian Gish, Clara T. Bracy, and Walter Miller, debuts in the US. It is the first gangster film. IMDB listing

1926
Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured. The time of his death, on Halloween, will give rise to myths and legend that will cement Houdini’s place
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It’s Halloween! It’s Halloween!
The moon is full and bright
And we shall see what can’t be seen
On any other night.

Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls,
Grinning goblins fighting duels,
Werewolves rising from their tombs,
Witches on their magic brooms.

In masks and gowns
We haunt the street
And knock on doors
For trick or treat.

Tonight we are
The king and queen,
For oh tonight
It’s Halloween!

- “It’s Halloween” by Jack Prelutsky.

Art

• Jay Stephens shares his take on Linus and the Great Pumpkin.
• Unreality Magazine has posted a gallery of Kids in Sci-Fi Costumes so cute, your nose may bleed.

Film

• Ha! Twilight doesn’t top of the list of The Best Reviewed Vampire Movies.
• Mary Robinette Kowal contemplates the fine line between Horror and Dark Fantasy.

Internet

• A company at a German trade show has attached tiny banner advertisements to flies and set them loose on unsuspecting visitors, in a bizarre yet effective marketing stunt. [Video]
• Charlie’s Diary asks a startling question: How habitable is the Earth?
• FYI: 10 Reasons Not to Bring Someone Back from the Dead this Halloween.
• The Los Angeles Times suggests TV Costumes for Halloween, beginning with Chuck’s Nerd Herd uniform.
• World Affairs contemplates the dangers on allowing English to become primus inter pares as the world dwindles down to just 600 languages.

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Photo Source: Initiative Deutschland

I honestly don’t know what’s up with the creepy little girl. She just started popping up everywhere a few days ago. If anyone has an explanation other than the fact that the Internet loves viral memes, please share.

Update: I’ve found out that people call her Disaster Girl, but that her real name is Zoe and, evidently, she is the new Fail, thanks to BuzzFeed. Poor kid.

Originally Posted: October 29, 2008

Suggest you own caption below!

The full theatrical trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar was finally released yesterday. I’m still not sure whether I’m stoked or disappointed. The whole thing looks something like Last of the Mohicans meets Starship Troopers, with a pinch of the Battle of Endor. (Seriously, tell me you’re not getting some Ewok vibes.)

Sci-fi in 3D is rare enough that I would probably go see it no matter what, but the way these trailers are unfolding, my review is likely going to look like a Mad Lib.

In the United States, today is National Candy Corn Day as well as Mischief Night, which, is also known as Devil’s Night in Michigan.

1888
John L. Loud of Weymouth, Massachusetts is granted the first US patent for a ballpoint pen. (US No. 392,046) The pen uses a revolving spherical marking point held in place by three smaller anti-friction bearings, which are held in place in turn by a spring-loaded rod. The pen was designed to be used on rough surfaces unsuitable for the nib of a traditional fountain pen. Fifty-seven years later, the first mass-produced pens would be sold at Gimbels Department Stores in New York City for US$12.95.

1937
69230 Hermes passes within 485,000 miles of Earth, the closest approach to the Earth of any asteroid. It was discovered and photographed by Karl Reinmuth. Within five days of its discover, it will pass outside of observation distance, until it will be re-discovered in 2003.

1938
Orson Welles panics the nation with a radio broadcast of the Mercury Theatre radio adaptation of “The War of the Worlds” by H. G. Wells. Panic begins to spread when a large number of listeners tune into the program ten minutes late, after the more popular Edgar Bergen Show, which is playing on a rival network, begins airing a terrible singing performance. Many of the listeners who tune in late miss the introductory warning that the program is purely fiction and are fooled by the news-style format of the program.
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Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”–
Merely this and nothing more.

- The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, 1845.