The Great Geek Manual

1646
The very first patent in the the New World (America) is issued by the General Court of Massachusetts to Joseph Jenkes, to protect his scythe mill engine from competition for fourteen years. The patent comes four years before the first US corporate charter, which will also be issued by the Great and General Court of Massachusetts. The patent reads, in part, “The Cort considringe ye necessity of raising such manifactures of engins of mils to go by water for speedy dispatch of much worke wth few hands, F.r being sufficiently informed of ye ability of ye petitionr to pforme such workes grant his petition (yt no othr pson shall set up, or use any such new invention, or trade for fourteen yeares w’hout ye licence of him ye said Joseph Jenkes) so farr as concernes any such new invention, & so as it shalbe alwayes in ye powr of this Corte to restrain ye exportation of such manifactures, & ye prizes of them to moderation if occasion so require.”

Google will make us stupid and intelligent at the same time. In the future, we will live in a transparent 3D mobile media cloud that surrounds us everywhere. In this cloud, we will use intelligent machines, to whom we delegate both simple and complex tasks. Therefore, we will loose the skills we needed in the old days (e.g., reading paper maps while driving a car). But we will gain the skill to make better choices (e.g., knowing to choose the mortgage that is best for you instead of best for the bank). All in all, I think the gains outweigh the losses.

- Paul Jones in the “The structure of the Internet” report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Art

• Botanical Drawings for the Digital Age “Murayama can spend months on one of his botanical illustrations, and when he’s done, the plant looks like something that blossomed in outer space.”
• Fandomania has rounded up a gallery of Mad Hatter fan art from Deviant Art.
• Hongkiat has gathered a collection of 60 Marvelous Comic Superhero Wallpapers.
• Web Urbanist explores the world of Model Cities used for Urban Planning.

Film

• Alice in Wonderland is getting shredded by critics.
• Avatar’s sci-fi label surprises Sigourney. Says actress, “Me in a sci-fi movie? Never. Except, you know, all those ones before Avatar.”
• Not only has io9 compiled a list of movies that shouldn’t be remade, it has actually mad suggestions as to which books should get an adaptation instead.

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1590
Tycho Brahe discovers a comet in the constellation Pisces.

1616
Copernican theory is declared “false and erroneous” in a decree written by Cardinal Robert Bellarmine and issued by the Catholic Church. Further, no person is to be permitted to hold or teach the theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun. When Galileo later violates the decree, he will be put on trial and held under house arrest for the final eight years of his life.

1868
C.H. Gould of Birmingham, England, receives a patent for the first stapling device.

1904
In Electrical World and Engineer, Nikola Tesla describes the process of ball lightning formation. Read more about Tesla’s theories on ball lightning at Bibliotecapleyades.

1924
The Computing Tabulating Recording Company (CTR) changes its name to International Business Machines (IBM).
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Google allows us to be more creative in approaching problems and more integrative in our thinking. We spend less time trying to recall and more time generating solutions.

- Paul Jones in the “The structure of the Internet” report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Art

• 9Gag shares the numbers on Robots in a simple infographic.
• Here’s a beautiful depiction of a network system of the future.
• Inspire76 offers a selection of Tick fan art.
• John Bauer is well known for his portrayals of fairy tales. Buy prints at ArtsyCraftsy.
• Trendone imagines the Future Convergence of Film and Gaming.

Film

• Interview: Martin Scorsese discusses Artifice and truth.
• Before you begin rooting for Avatar, Mercury News reminds you that Sci-fi spectacles have history of losing at Oscars.
• Mike Brotherton has a nice post about Ten Actors Who Look Like Aliens.
• Mute ponders Catastrophe Cinema in the Age of Crisis.
• PixelMonster offers this infographic on the Film Industry by the Numbers.

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1275
Chinese astronomers observe and record a total eclipse of the Sun.

1675
John Flamsteed is appointed the first Astronomer Royal of England.

1774
The Orion Nebula is first sighted by William Herschel.

1840
Alexander S. Wolcott and John Johnson open the world’s first commercial photography studio in New York City. Wolcott will patent a camera using a mirror reflector May 8, 1840.
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Google will make us more informed. The smartest person in the world could well be behind a plow in China or India. Providing universal access to information will allow such people to realize their full potential, providing benefits to the entire world.

- Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google.