The Great Geek Manual

1881
A patron of Edward Berner’s drug store in Two Rivers, Wisconsin is unable to order flavored soda water for religious reasons, as it was the Sabbath. Berner compromises by offering the man ice cream in a dish with the chocolate syrup that was previously only served as flavoring in ice-cream sodas, making the first ice cream Sunday. The dish’s name will later be changed to “Sundae.”

1908
Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is demonstrated at a scientific meeting in Paris, France. The Lumière Brothers, who will go one to become two of the earliest film pioneers, are in the audience for the demonstration.

1937
Britain launches its 999 emergency services system and receives its first call at 4:20am.

1946
The University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering launches a summer program for computing that stimulates construction of stored-program computers at universities and research institutions. This free, public lectures will inspire many of the creators of the earliest computers.

1947
The Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) issues a press release stating that personnel from the field’s 509th Bomb Group had recovered a crashed “flying disc” from a ranch near Roswell, sparking intense media interest. Later in the day, the Commanding General of the Eighth Air Force will state that, in fact, a weather balloon had been recovered by RAAF personnel, not a “flying saucer.”

1952
The first over-the-air cross-channel television link between London, England and Paris, France is established.

1957
The Control Data Corporation (CDC), a firm which will pioneer the field of supercomputers, is incorporated.

1963
The BBC changes its color television test transmissions to the French SECAM system but also acknowledges an interest in the PAL system developed in Germany by Telefunken after both systems, along with the NTSC system.

1966
Universal Studios releases Frankenstein Conquers the World, directed by Ishiro Honda and starring Nick Adams, Tadao Takashima, and Kumi Mizuno, to US theaters. The film was released in Japan by Toho on August 8, 1965. The film features a Japanized version of the Frankenstein Monster, who becomes giant-sized to fight a giant subterranean monster, Baragon. IMDB listing

1967
The final installment of the Buck Rogers, the first science fiction comic strip, appears in newspapers around the country after thirty-eight years of daily publication.

1969
The IBM Customer Information Control System (CICS) is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer.

1976
The first Indonesian satellite, Palapa A1, is launched from Cape Canaveral. The satellite carries twelve transponders that will provide four thousand voice circuits or twelve simultaneous TV channels to the country’s over six thousand inhabited islands.

1983
Infocom releases the interaction fiction game Planetfall for Apple and IBM compatible computers. Planetfall utilizes the Z-machine originally developed for the Zork franchise.

1991
Microsoft begins developing version 4.0 of the Excel spreadsheet application.

1994
Enix releases the role-playing game Robotrek under the title of Slapstick for the Super Nintendo in Japan. As its Japanese name implies, is intended as a humorous game aimed at a younger audience. Robotrek’s objective is to raise three robots from spare parts that may be found, won, or generated by the player by means of the game’s item combination system.

1995
Sega releases the Saturn video game system in Europe. The system comes bundled with the Virtua Fighter game. Price: UK£3.99

Sega releases the fighting game Virtua Fighter for the Sega Saturn in Europe. ELSPA: 3+

1997
NASA posts photos taken by Pathfinder lander on the surface of Mars. The site breaks internet traffic records, receiving fourty-six million hits on its first day. Visit the official Mars Pathfinder website.

1998
Yahoo! announces its second stock split (a 2-for-1 common stock split) since the company’s initial public offering (IPO) on April 12, 1996. Visit the official Yahoo! website.

1999
Bloomsbury publishes the fantasy novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling in the UK as a hardcover. (ISBN: 0-7475-4215-5) It is the third book in the Harry Potter series. Visit J.K. Rowling’s official website. Length: 317

The West Coast Video Show is held July 8 through July 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center as part of the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) Conference. Pelican Accessories, Nyko Technologies, and VM Labs are among the exhibitors.

2000
The Brazilian website of Claudionor Ramos Advocacia E Consultoria Empresari is hacked by the hacking group “Crime Boys”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

The Brazilian website of Escola Politecnica Da USP is hacked by “M3L4O”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

The fantasy novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling is published by Bloomsbury in the UK and by Scholastic in the US as a hardcover. (ISBN:0-7475-4624-X (UK) / 0-439-13959-7 (US)) The book attracts an incredible amount of attention because of a pre-publication warning from Rowling that one of the characters would be murdered in it. For a short while, the fourth book was titled Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament by numerous bookstores. Rowling expressed her indecision about the title in an Entertainment Weekly interview. “I changed my mind twice on what [the title] was. The working title had got out — ‘Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament.’ Then I changed ‘Doomspell’ to ‘Triwizard Tournament.’ Then I was teetering between ‘Goblet of Fire’ and ‘Triwizard Tournament.’ In the end, I preferred ‘Goblet of Fire’ because it’s got that kind of ‘cup of destiny’ feel about it, which is the theme of the book.” Visit J.K. Rowling’s official website. Length: 636 (UK) / 734 (US)

2004
Universal Interactive releases the racing game Crash Nitro Kart for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in Japan. Visit the game’s official website.

2005
20th Century Fox releases the action film Fantastic Four, directed by Tim Story and starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, and Julian McMahon, to 3,602 US theaters. The film is based on the Marvel comic series Fantastic Four. It is the third comic book film of the year, following Elektra and Batman Begins, but it will prove to be a surprising box office success, ending a major prolonged box office slump that was causing concern in the American film industry. Produced on a budget of US$100 million, the film will gross US$56,061,504 domestically in its opening weekend. Visit this film’s official website. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 2 hrs 3 mins

The German creator of the Sasser computer worm, Sven Jaschan, is given a twenty-one month suspended sentence after being convicted of creating the worm. The court was lenient in its sentencing because Jaschan was a minor when he wrote the worm. (The worm was released on his 18th birthday, April 29, 2004.) It is estimated that the worm infected over a million computers.

Hudson Soft and Ubisoft releases the action puzzle game Bomberman for the Nintendo DS in Europe. PEGI: 3+

Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) releases the action adventure game God of War for the PlayStation 2 in Europe. Visit the game’s official website. BBFC: 18 PEGI: 18+

2006
The Magic: The Gathering card set Coldsnap, the third in the Ice Age block. It’s been over ten years since the first Ice Age set was released in June 1995, which is the longest period of time between the beginning and the completion of a full block in the manufacture of the Magic card game. The set features 155 cards: 60 common, 55 uncommon, and 40 rare. Visit the official Magic: the Gathering website.

Microsoft releases the Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (WinFLP) operating system, a thin client based on the Windows XP Embedded system. The system provides out-dated hardware with the core management features of the Windows systems, including Windows Automatic Updates, Firewall, and Group Policy. Visit the official WinFLP website.

2007
At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Nintendo introduces the Wii Zapper, a riffle-shaped casing for the Wii remote and Nunchuck. Visit the official Wii website. Price: US$19.99