The Great Geek Manual

413 BC
A lunar eclipse causes panic among the sailors of the Athens fleet, affecting the outcome of a battle in the Peloponnesian War. The Athenians were ready to move their forces from Syracuse when the Moon was eclipsed. The soldiers and sailors are frightened by this celestial omen and are reluctant to leave. The fleet’s commander, Nicias, consults soothsayers and postpones the fleet’s departure for twenty-seven days. The delay gives an advantage to their enemies, the Syracusans, who go on to defeat the entire Athenian fleet and army, killing Nicias in the process.

1783
The first experimental hydrogen-filled balloon leaves Champs de Mars, Paris, unmanned, and reaches a 900m altitude. Under the auspices of the French Academy of Sciences, Jacques A.C. Charles sent up a 13ft (4m) diameter hydrogen-filled balloon of rubber-coated silk. One of the spectators present for the demonstration is the American ambassador Benjamin Franklin. The gas had been manufactured, beginning on August 23, 1783, by pouring 225kg of sulphuric acid over half a ton of scrap iron. Able to lift about 9kg, it travels 24km in about forty-five minutes. The balloon descended close to the little village of Gonesse, where frightened local farmers attacked it with pick axes and spades, leaving only torn remains.

1875
The element Gallium was discovered by P.E. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. In an article in the Annales de Chimie in 1877, he will recount the discovery, “On August 27, 1875, between three and four at night, I perceived the first indications of the existence of a new element that I named gallium in honor of France (Gallia).” His first spectroscopic analysis of the tiny amount (he estimated 1/100 mg) of the prepared sample showed a previously unknown violet line at 417.0, indicating a new element.

1889
Eastman Kodak creates the first roll film using a celluloid substrate, which was developed for the company by Henry Reichenbach.

1910
J.A.D. McCurdy transmits the first radio message ever sent from an aircraft in flight over Sheepshead Bay in Long Island, New York.

1935
RKO Pictures releases the film She, directed by Lansing C. Holden and Irving Pichel and starring Helen Gahagan, Randolph Scott, Helen Mack, Nigel Bruce, and Gustav von Seyffertitz, to US theaters. The film is based on the H. Rider Haggard novel of the same name. IMDB listing

1939
Sir Frank Whittle and Hans J.P. von Ohain invent the Heinkel He 178, the first modern jet-powered aircraft to successfully fly. However, it only remains airborne for seven minutes.

1950
The first international television link is established when the BBC in Britain transmits the live first cross-Channel television program via microwave relays to celebrate the centenary anniversary of the first cross-Channel telegraph transmission by submarine cable. The signal is relayed 95 miles (153km) for the two-hour program from Calais, in Northern France, to London, England. The show presents the town of Calais, a torchlight procession, dancing, and a firework display from the Place de l’Hotel de Ville.

1955
Sir Hugh Beaver, the managing director of the Guinness Brewery, publishes the first edition of the Guinness Book of Records. By Christmas, the book will top the British bestseller list.

1956
Sellafield in Calder Hall, England becomes the world’s first commercial nuclear power station to supply electricity to a national electricity grid. It will be closed on March 31, 2003. Its four Magnox reactors are capable of generating 50MWe of electricity, but the production of weapons-grade plutonium is its original primary use.

1962
NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe, which will become the first probe to fly past Venus in December.

1975
The Symphonie 2 geostationary satellite is launched. The Symphonie series is the first communications satellites built by France and Germany and the first in the world which were three-axis stabilized on geostationary orbit.

1976
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers announce that they have assembled a synthetic gene and implanted it into a living cell of the bacterium E. coli.

1982
According to Twin Galaxies, Michael Baird, age 18, scores a record-setting 12,311,126 points on Centipede by Atari after playing the game for twenty-one hours and twelve minutes at Phil’s Amusement in Lakewood, California. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.

1983
20th Century Fox releases the animated feature film Fire and Ice, directed by Ralph Bakshi and starring Susan Tyrrell and Maggie Roswell, to 89 US theaters. The film is a collaboration between famed animation director Ralph Bakshi and one of the most most influential fantasy artists in history, Frank Frazetta, who also collaborated on the 1977 film Wizards. The was produced using the process of rotoscoping,whereby scenes were shot on camera using live actors, then traced onto animation cels. The film will be neither financially nor critically successful, but it will go on to become a cult classic. Produced on a budget of US$1.2 million, the film will gross US$263,238 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG) Running Time: 1 hr 21 mins

1984
In the Monday, August 27 issue of Electronic News, a story written by Mark Halper examines Atari’s strategy of reducing the retail prices of 800XL computers from US$230 to US$160 and the Atari 2600 game system from US$60 to US$40. Additionally, the article points out potential benefits from a pending US$100 million law suit Atari has filed against Amiga plus disputes related to receivables left to Tramel Technologies by Warner.

Synapse Software Corporation, a Richmond-based software developer, files a US$15 million lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court against Atari for failing to pay more than US$1 million in delivered software.

1987
Atari publicly announces an agreement to buy the Federated Group, Inc. for US$67.3 million in cash. The Federated Group of Electronics Stores is a chain of sixty-seven home electronics stores in Arizona, California, Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas, which employs 2,700 people. Atari feels Federated will offer guaranteed retail shelf space for their products and provide a major stepping stone toward producing other Atari-labeled electronics products.

1989
The British Marcopolo I becomes the first communications satellite when it is carried into orbit aboard a Delta booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Marcopolo I will carry television broadcast service for all of the United Kingdom.

1991
Intel announces that it will temporarily halt the production of the 50MHz 486DX processor, due to problems in manufacturing and testing.

1993
Compaq announces its Presario line of personal computers, which are designed to be an inexpensive alternative to its other lines. The Presario features a monitor, modem, and software to access the recently popularized online world through America Online and Prodigy. Price: US$1,399

At the ONE BBSCON ’93 in Colorado Springs, the National Online Media Association, a professional association of BBS Sysops, Internet Service Providers, and online media figures, is founded.

1994
Nintendo releases the Super Scope 6 game bundled with the Super Scope light gun for the Super NES in Europe.

1995
Microsoft has sold between nine hundred thousand and one million copies of the Microsoft Windows ’95 operating systems in the first four days of its release.

1997
Sony releases the PlayStation Dual Analog Controller in the US. The analog mode of the controller allows for more precise and fluid control of game characters. In April, the controller was released in Japan, where it featured a “rumble” effect for a more realistic gaming experience. However, the vibration feedback was removed from the controller before its release in the US. According to a Sony spokesperson, “We evaluated all the features and decided, for manufacturing reasons, that what was most important to gamers was the analog feature.” Analog-capable titles on the market include Tobal 2 and Bushido Blade.

1998
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) releases the 350 MHz K6-2 processor. Price: US$317 in 1000-unit quantities

Texas Instruments announces that they have invented a computer chip manufacturing technology that permits the tiniest transistor ever to be made. The new technology allows a transistor the length of just .07 microns to be manufactured, which is about one thousandth the thickness of a human hair. Devices that will evolve from this technology will include hearing aids that can easily fit within the inner ear and reduced size wireless phones that integrate data and video. More than 400 million of the minuscule transistors can fit onto a single chip the size of a fingernail.

1999
Wizard of the Coast releases the Magic: The Gathering beginners set, Starter. Starter is Wizards of the Coast’s fourth attempt to create an entry-level card set to lure beginners to the game. It’s name initially causes confusion, because up until it’s release, Tournament decks were known as “Starters.” Later, the set will be known as “Starter 1999″ after the release of Starter 2000. The set contains 173 cards, including 63 common, 55 uncommon, 35 rare, and 20 basic lands. Most of the cards are reprints of cards already available, many from the Portal sets, but the set also contains twenty-six unique cards. Starter cards are available in a fixed-deck game, randomized booster packs, and a pre-constructed deck for each color. Visit the set’s official website.

2001
Finland begins digital terrestrial television (DTT) transmissions.

Intel releases the 1.9GHz and 2.0GHz Pentium 4 processors, crossing a key technology milestone. Price: US$375 and US$562 respectively in quantities of 1000

Version 6 of the Internet Explorer web browser is released with the Windows XP operating system. This version includes several improvements centered around privacy and security.

2002
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) releases the Athlon MP processor at 1667MHz and 1800MHz, featuring 256KiB Level-2 Caches and 266 MT/s front-side buses. Code-name: Thoroughbred

Sony releases the PS2 Network Adapter for the PlayStation 2 in the US. Price: US$39.99

2003
Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in approximately sixty thousand years, passing approximately within 34.65 million miles (55.76 million kilometers) of Earth.

Version 7.1.2 of the Fermi Linux operation system, “Top,” is released. Fermi Linux is a catch all designation for Linux distributions used by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), which are based on Scientific Linux. Visit the application’s official website.

The world’s biggest battery is connected to provide emergency power to Fairbanks, Alaska’s second-largest city. Without power lines between Alaska and the rest of the US, the state is an “electrical island.” Worse, tough environmental conditions cause a total city blackout every two or three years. The US$35 million rechargable battery contains 13,760 large nickel-cadmium cells that weigh a total of 1,300 tons and cover 2,000 square meters, an area greater than a football field. The battery can provide forty megawatts of power, enough to supply approximately twelve thousand people for up to seven minutes, to provide a buffer while diesel backup generators are started. The battery is an important safeguard in a climate where winter temperatures can drop as low as -51°C.

2004
After seventeen years in business, American video developer and publisher Acclaim Entertainment shuts down operations due to an inability to secure financing.

Hewlett-Packard announces the “Apple iPod from HP,” a repackaged version of the 4G iPod featuring manuals and technical support from HP.

2006
The Games Convention, which is the largest video game convention in the world, comes to an end after a record attendance of 183,000 visitors in just four days. Visit the official Games Convention website.

Intel releases the Dual-Core Xeon processor operating at speed ranging from 2500MHz – 3400MHz, featuring two 1,024KB Level-2 Caches, a 4,096KB Level-3 Cache, and a front-side buses ranging from 667 – 800 MT/s. Price: US$856 – US$1,980

2007
Google launches Google Sky, a virtual globe system similar to Google Earth but devoted to mapping outer space through Hubble Telescope photographs. Visit the official Google Sky website.

Popular bittorrent indexing website TorrentSpy begins blocking searches made by United States users and redirecting them instead to a privacy statement. The statement reads, “Sorry, but because you are located in the USA you cannot use the search features of the Torrentspy.com website.Torrentspy’s decision to stop accepting US visitors was NOT compelled by any Court but rather an uncertain legal climate in the US regarding user privacy and an apparent tension between US and European Union privacy laws.” The move is the result of an MPAA lawsuit that demanded that TorrentSpy hand over all of its random access memory (RAM). The reasoning behind the demand was that all IPs, downloaded .torrent files, dates, and other user info are temporarily stored in RAM for a few milliseconds, effectively acting as a server log. The demand created a conflict with European Union privacy laws, and the site was forced to turn away US user to avoid violating those privacy laws. Visit the official TorrentSpy website.