The Great Geek Manual

1881
The first commercially successful long distance line, running forty-five miles between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island, opens for business.

1958
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower calls upon the Soviet Union to dedicate outer space “to the peaceful uses of mankind.”

1965
At 10:58am PST, scientists conduct what they term a “controlled excursion,” launching a nuclear rocket in Jackass Flats, Nevada and burning off a portion of its radioactive core. The resultant radioactive close drifted over Los Angeles before It produced a radioactive cloud over Los Angeles. Documents released in 1994 will reveal that the cloud was an “intentional accident” designed to test the possible effects of a malfunction aboard a rocket. While the population’s exposure to radiation was negligible, far less than the 25 millirad danger level, the incident will spark controversy when it comes to light in 1994. Read more about the incident.

1966
The television series Batman debuts on the ABC network with the episode “Hi Diddle Riddle.” The series is a lighthearted comedy based on the DC comic book character Batman, created by Bob Kane. The series will run two half-hour episodes a week for two and a half seasons, for a total of 120 episodes. TV.com entry

1984
Engineers stop using mortar and begin using the original method of interlocking blocks that was used by the ancient Egyptians to restore the pyramids. The international panel charged with overseeing the restoration of the Great Pyramids in Egypt abandoned modern construction techniques, which turned out to be destructive when water in modern cement split adjacent limestone. The restoration effort had been frustrated by the problem, but after returning to the ancient methods, the project continued without complications.

International Business Machines (IBM) introduces the Personal Computer Interactive Executive operating system, a UNIX system licensed from AT&T and developed to IBM specifications by Interactive Systems Corp. The software will be available in April. Price: US$900

Sinclair Research announces the Sinclair 16/32-bit QL (Quantum Leap) microcomputer, featuring a 7.5MHz Motorola 68008 microprocessor, 128KB RAM, two tape drives, and the Sinclair QDOS ROM-based operating system. It is notable for being the first home computer based on a 32 bits CPU, preceding Apple Computer’s release of the Apple Macintosh by mere days. Price: US$500 Weight: 3lbs

Mattel Electronics sells its worldwide marketing rights of the Aquarius home computer to Radofin Electronics, the company that manufactures the computer.

1968
Ben S. Gilmer, president of AT&T, announces the Bell System’s adoption of the “911″ as a nationwide emergency services telephone number. Huntington, Indiana will become the first city to activate the number on March 1.

1992
Version 1.1, the second version (and the first stable version) of the Line Mode Browser is released via FTP. The first version of the line-mode browser was written in 1990 by Nicola Pellow, who worked as an intern at CERN where Tim Berners-Lee recruited her to write a cross-platform browser. Berners-Lee released the first browser, WorldWideWeb, but it only worked on NeXT computers, which were fairly rare. The name comes from the fact that the browser displays only one line of text at a time, in order to maintain its compatibility with teletype machines.

1996
Apple Computer announces that it will post a US$68 million first quarter loss. It also announces a restructuring plan that reduce the company by a thousand employees. Later reports will increase the estimate to somewhere between 1,300 to 3,000, or approximately a quarter of the company’s workforce.

The first Malaysian satellite, MEASAT 1, is launched.

New Line Cinema releases the science fiction film Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, directed by and starring Farhad Mann, Matt Frewer, and Austin O’Brien to 1,589 US theaters. It will gross US$1,428,658 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 1 hr 32 mins

Scott Morris, sysop of the Assassin’s Guide BBS, agrees to a settlement with Microsoft and Novel following an April 19th raid and the companies’ subsequent civil suit.

Square Software announces its intention to release Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation rather than the Nintendo 64 platform.

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