Picture of the Week: Intern’s Desk
I found this on Flickr. The caption read, “Our intern starts today. We figured we’d start her off with a little prank.” Readers’ reaction? “Wow – your interns get SEVEN reams of paper to sit on?”
Source: Flickr
Geek Quote of the Day
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.
Book Releases for the Week of June 22, 2008
New Releases
After the Downfall by Harry Turtledove
Night Shade Books. (ISBN-13: 978-1597801317) Paperback. Length: 256pp
Alternate historian Turtledove (The Man with the Iron Heart) opens this fantasy with Hasso Pemsel, a tough Wehrmacht captain, cornered in a Berlin museum as the Russians close in. Pemsel falls into another world, where he promptly rescues beautiful blonde half-goddess Velona from three swarthy men. Velona seduces him and explains that the blond Lenelli invaders rule over the dark native Grenye, keeping them subjugated with magic. Experienced from fighting on the Russian front, Hasso brings modern military ideas to the Lenelli before they invade the Grenye stronghold of Bucovin, but when the Grenye capture him, conversations with intelligent, lovely high priestess Drepteaza start to erode his assumptions about both races. Pemsel’s slow enlightenment breaks no new ground, but his story will appeal to fans of Turtledove’s straightforward style and military know-how.
Breakaway by Joel Shepherd
Pyr. (ISBN-13: 978-1591027423) Paperback. Length: 425pp
Cassandra Kresnov is a highly advanced hunter-killer android. She has escaped the League and fled to Callay, a member of the Federation. Because of her fighting skills she was able to save the president’s life and is now a trusted member of the security forces. However, not all Tanushans are happy to have her on their turf and Cassandra has to tread carefully. As Callay moves towards a vote on whether to break away from the Federation, confusion reigns and terrorist groups plot their own agendas. Cassandra becomes involved with two young troubleshooters for the secret service and finds out more than she ever wanted to know about the Tanushan underground and those on the fringes.
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What is a Browser?
Yeah, this is about what I would expect. It kind of reminds me of that bleach commercial with the little kids who ask, “What’s bacteria? Do I know?”
Trailer: The Last Airbender
I thought the cartoon had a lot of promise, but M Night Shyamalan has been dead to me since Lady in the Water. So, I’m not sure whether or not I’ll rent this when it comes out. Something about a martial arts film without a single asian actor just strikes me as wrong.
Link Round-Up: June 23, 2009
Resources
10 Hidden iPhone 3.0 Features – Now that many had the chance to play around with the new iPhone OS, plenty of undocumented features and nifty updates are starting to show up. PC World runs down the most notable of them.
10 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Firebug – Firebug is one of the most popular tools used by web developers. In this article, NetTuts take a closer look at ten of its most attractive features.
40+ Essential Front End Web Developer Cheat Sheets – Because sometimes its just easier to have an image to consult than to go fishing on Google.
Breadbox 64 – Believe it or not, this is a Twitter client for the Commodore 64. It uses Contiki, a very nice embedded OS, and the MMC Replay cartridge with the RR-Net add on for the physical connection to the net. So if you’ve got one, break it out!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Bowl – AKA the “instant diabetes bowl” is the invention of food writer and critic Michael Ruhlman and the brainchild of his son.
Clicky Web Analytics – The newest kid on the web number block may actually has a leg up on Google. The only downside is that it’s a pay service.
Wandoojin.wordpress.com – A homeless man in DC has a wordpress blog which he posts images to using a remote camera. He hauls around a shopping cart around that not only contains his clothes, but is also festooned with cardboard signs advertising different web addresses.
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Geek Media Round-Up: June 23, 2009
Art
- What’s up with chicks in pneumatic tubes on pulp covers?
Comics
- Zack Whedon has created a Dr. Horrible Comic for Dark Horse.
Film
- Indiana Jones 5 is now being confirmed by a producer.
Internet
- Google Books has recently trotted out some new features, including contents drop-down menus.
Literature
- The Guardian asks What will the literary archives of today’s authors look like?
- Hey, here’s a good idea: Let’s stop sneering at fantasy readers.
- Science Fiction author Ray Bradbury is joining a fight for a local library, saying “To hell with [Yahoo] and to hell with the Internet.”
- Tomorrow Museum explains Why Teenagers Read Better Than You, claiming that teenagers are passionate readers.
This Day in Geek History: June 23
1775
The first American-made book, entitled Impenetrable Secret, is advertised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The book is printed and sold by Story and Humphreys. Their advertisement in the Pennsylvania Mercury announces that the book is “printed with types, paper and ink manufactured in this Province.”
1868
Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soule of Milwaukee, Wisconsin are granted a patent for the “Type-Writer.” (US No. 79,265) The device is only equipped with capital letters and typists can’t tell if they were making errors because the paper can’t be seen as one is typing; however, it is the first practical device of its kind. It is described as an improvement upon their earlier type-writing machine, which they had filed an application for on October 11, 1867. The new features are “a better way of working the type-bars, of holding paper on the carriage, of holding, applying, and moving the inking-ribbon, a self-adjusting platen, and a rest or cushion for the type-bars to follow.” The device also features the QWERTY keyboard which will be used for typing for decades to follow.
1926
The College Board administers the first SAT exam.
1928
In Germany, a rocket-powered automobile built by Opel crashed during testing after reaching a speed of 156mph.
1931
Aviators Wiley Hardeman Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on the first flight around the world in a single-engine plane.
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Geek Media Round-Up: June 22, 2009
Art
- Puppet Show is a hauntingly bizarre photography in which 30 children, ages two to eight years old, have been transformed into dolls with a subtle retouching of their photographs.
Comics
- Marvel has posted a gallery of Marvel’s Top 70 Covers Ever. I was surprised at their choice for the number one spot. I would personally have choose number five.
- Maxim looks back at the The Worst Superhero “Comebacks” of all time.
Film
- Great news! Michael Bay is Quitting Action Movies! The rest of your childhood cartoons are now safe.
- How many villains can you name that Died by Melting? Would you believe eight?
- New Images From Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland have hit the web… might give me nightmares.
- Oh, fond memories. Movies Buzz names 12 Awesome 80’s Movies That Are Perfect, including both Ferris Bueller and the Transformers.
- Raw Critics considers the Top 10 Actresses who should play Catwoman.
Review: The Taking of Pelham 123
Movie: “The Taking of Pelham 123”
Director: Tony Scott
Rating: Rated R for violence and pervasive language.
Release:
Running Time: 2 hrs 1 min
Starring: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, James Gandolfini, John Turturro… IMDB listing
Verdict:
This dark, fast-paced remake of the 1974 Walter Matthau film is a credit to both of its stars, but it follows a troupe that has been played out, ridden into the ground, dug back up, and ridden into the ground again by Hollywood.
Here’s how it goes. Terrorist takes hostages. Terrorist proves to be complicated, volatile character with a surprise motive. Terrorist pulls a fast one on dim-witted cops. Everyday man gets caught up in the incident. Everyday man proves to be a complex, vulnerable character. Terrorist makes a break for it. Everyday man pursues and lays down some justice. Pelham 123 does it very well, but it’s been done over and over and over.
The movie is great, but for my buck, I’d just as soon have waited until it came out on DVD. There just aren’t a great number of action sequences to justify the extra expense of seeing it on the big screen.
Synopsis:
Denzel Washington plays a disgraced New York City subway dispatcher Walter Garber who finds his ordinary day thrown into chaos when a subway train is hijacked by four men arms with machine guns. The lead hijacker, who calls himself “Ryder” demands ten million dollars in one hour. As they wait for a lackadaisical Mayer to scrape up a ten million dollar ransom, Garber and Ryder form a report through a series of tension-laden radio communications. But the more Garber learns, the more uncertain about Ryder’s intentions he becomes. As the deadline approaches, Garber scrabbles for more time even as he wonders whether its money that Ryder is really after.
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Geek Quote of the Day
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
This Day in Geek History: June 21
June 21st is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere.
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.
1889
British photographer William Friese-Greene receives a patent for the first cinematograph camera specifically designed to make use of perforated celluloid films, though it only shoots film at a rate of four or five frames per second.
1893
The first Ferris wheel is premiered at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, America’s third World’s Fair. It was invented by George Washington Ferris, a Pittsburgh bridge builder as an attraction similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Ferris’ design features a web of cables rather than rigid spokes in the wheel’s center and two 140 foot steel support towers. It stands 264 feet tall. Each of its thirty-six cars has a sixty passenger capacity, with a one hundred fifty ton total capacity. Its cars and wheels weigh 2,100 tons without passengers, and the levers and other associated machinery required to turn the wheel weigh another 2,200 tons. Its forty-five foot axle is the single largest piece of forged steel in the world. The ride cost fifty cents and made US$726,805.50 during the World’s Fair.
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Geek Quote of the Day
There is nothing more dreadful than imagination without taste.
