The Great Geek Manual

1903
Richard Pearse of New Zealand reputedly flies a powered, heavier-than-air machine, nine months before the Wright Brothers make their famous and well-documented flight at Kitty Hawk. Accounts vary, but his flight may have traveled as far as 350 yards through the air before striking a large hedge. If true, the aircraft is the first to use modern ailerons, rather than inferior wing warping system that the Wrights’ early designs will use. Pearse’s machine also has a modern tricycle undercarriage permitting it to takeoff without ramps. Some sources will mark this as the anniversary of his flight, others will claim the event occurred some months later.

1930
The Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) institutes the Motion Pictures Production Code. Also known as the Hays Code or simply the Production Code, the code a set of censorship guidelines concerning crime, religion, sex, and violence in films.

John Logie Baird achieves the synchronization of sound with television pictures.

1939
Harvard and International Business Machines (IBM) sign an agreement for the construction of the Mark I, also known as the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC). The computer will weigh nearly five tons and contain more than 750,000 separate components. It will read instructions from paper tape and data from punch cards.

1956
The first test of the first space cabin simulator in the United States is successfully completed when Airman D. F. Smith emerges from a twenty-four hour stay in the cabin. Smith passed the time performing psychological evaluations while he was physically monitor with instruments which monitored his heart, respiration, and temperature. The cabin itself is about one hundred cubic feet in size and contains only a standard aircraft seat and a mock-control panel with displays, lights, and switches. It is equipped with air conditioning, a carbon dioxide absorption system, an oxygen supply, and a urine distillation and recycling system. This test receives national publicity which comes to a climax when, on February 16, 1958, Smith emerges from a seven day stay in the simulator to be greeted by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and the press. The tests are held at the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) in San Antonio, Texas.

1958
The United States Navy establishes its first atomic submarine division comprised of six submarines, three of which are atomic: the Nautilus, Sea Wolf, and Skate.

1966
Luna 10, the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon, is launched by the USSR from an Earth orbiting platform. It will enter lunar orbit on April 3, 1966 and complete its first orbit in three hours. The scientific instruments on board include a gamma-ray spectrometer, meteorite detector, and triaxial magnetometer. The spacecraft is also equipped with instruments to investigate gravity, infrared emissions from the Moon, radiation conditions of the lunar environment solar-plasma. It is battery powered, and it will operate for 460 lunar orbits before deactivating as planned on May 30, 1966.

1968
The final episode of the science fiction television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, “No Way Back” first airs. It was the longest running American sci-fi series of the sixties, having run on the ABC television network for four seasons and one hundred ten episodes. TV.com

1970
NASA satellite Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere at the completion of its twelve years in orbit. It was launched in 1958 in response to the Soviet launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite, and it was the first satellite to detect the Van Allen radiation belt. Read more about Explorer 1.

1981
Dr. Ananda Chakrabarty is granted a patent for a genetically engineered species of the single-celled Pseudomonas bacteria capable of breaking down crude oil into simple substances fit for consumption by aquatic life. (US No. 4,259,444) The patent comes following the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Diamond v. Chakrabarty on June 16, 1980 that held that life forms can be patented if they are the outcome of “human ingenuity and research” rather than “nature’s handiwork.”

1983
Release 15 of the Infocom interactive fiction game Zork III is published for personal computers.

Release 22 of the Infocom interactive fiction game Zork II is published for personal computers.

1989
Howard Lincoln sends Atari Games a cease-and-desist order to stop manufacturing any version of Tetris for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). On April 7, Tengen, a subsidiary of Atari, will contend that their company owns all legal rights to produce home versions of Tetris.

1993
A bug in a piece of software called ARMM written by Dr. Richard Depew in an attempt to introduce the controversial concept of retro-moderation to Usenet postings sends two hundred copies of a message to a the newsgroup news.admin.policy on after the other. The term Spamming is coined by Joel Furr, a user of the newsgroup, to describe the incident. However, he borrows the term from a different use from various MUD games he had played.

1994
The journal Nature reports the discovery of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull in Ethiopia.

1995
Microsoft releases Microsoft Bob for Windows. Price: US$99

1996
Bandai releases Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu for the PlayStation and Saturn in Japan.

Version 1.20 of the EzyCom bulletin board system (BBS) is released for MS-DOS.

1998
Netscape releases the source code of its browser under an open-source license. The project is named Mozilla, and the project will later be spun off into the non-profit organization named the Mozilla Foundation in 2003. Visit the official Mozilla website.

Shipments of personal computers in Japan over the past twelve months reach 6.85 million units.

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) releases the platform game Rascal for the PlayStation in the US. ESRB: E (Everyone)

Tecmo releases the versus fighting game Dead or Alive for the PlayStation in North America.

1999
3DO and Ubisoft releases the first-person shooter (FPS) Requiem: Avenging Angel for Windows in the US. Visit an archived version of the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)

Electronic Arts (EA) releases Lands of Lore 3 for Windows in the US.

Hasbro Interactive releases the simulation game RollerCoaster Tycoon for the Xbox in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E (Everyone)

Nintendo releases the platform game Wario Land II for the Game Boy Color in the US. ESRB: E (Everyone)

Shipments of personal computers in Japan over the past twelve months reach 7.53 million units.

Warner Bros. releases the science fiction film The Matrix, directed by the Wachowski Brothers and staring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano, and Gloria Foster to 2,849 US theaters. The film will be awarded four Academy Awards, for Best Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound, as well as twenty-eight other awards. It is packed with references to cyberpunk, gaming, and hacker culture. Produced on a budget of US$63 million, the film will gross US$27,788,331 in its opening weekend. Read an overview of the film at The Matrix 101. Visit the film’s official website. MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 2 hrs 16 mins

The website of The Force.net is hacked by “com-logik”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

2000
The 3DO Company releases the expansion pack Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death for the turn-based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic III for personal computers in the US. This, the game’s second expansion pack, features six new campaigns. ESRB: E (Everyone)

Capcom releases the survival horror game Resident Evil: Survivor for the PlayStation in PAL regions. ESRB: M (Mature)

Take-Two Interactive releases the real-time strategy (RTS) game Tzar: Burden of the Crown for personal computer and the PlayStation. ESRB: T (Teen)

The website of Kids Party is hacked by “Wacor”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

2001
Sega discontinues production of the Dreamcast video game system, with approximately 10.6 million units sold.

2002
Version 1.0 of the Gentoo Linux operating system is released. Visit the official Gentoo website.

2003
The Calder Hall nuclear power station in England is closed after almost forty-seven years of service. When it opened on October 17, 1956, it was the world’s first commercial nuclear power station.

Intel releases the 2300MHz Celeron 2.3 and 2400MHz Celeron 2.4 processors, featuring 128KB Level-2 Caches and 400MHz Front-Side Buses.

Version 9 (not 9.0) of the Red Hat Linux operating system is released. Visit the official Red Hat Linux website.

2004
Capcom releases the survival horror game Resident Evil: Outbreak for the Playstation 2 in the US. ESRB: M (Mature)

2005
Namco releases Tekken 5 for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. It is the sixth game in the Tekken series. Visit the game’s official website.

NIS releases the turn-based strategy game Generation of Chaos for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in Japan. It is the fourth in the Generation of Chaos series. Visit the game’s official website. CERO: B (Ages 12 and up)

2006
Nintendo releases the life simulation game Animal Crossing: Wild World for the Nintendo DS in Europe. Visit the game’s official website. PEGI: 3+

Sega releases the game compilation Sonic Mega Collection for personal computers in Europe. The compilation includes Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Spinball, and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. PEGI: 12+

Sega releases the racing game OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast for personal computers, the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (PSP), and Xbox in Europe. It is the eighth game in the OutRun series. Visit the game’s official website. PEGI: 3+

Toshiba releases the first HD-DVD player in Japan, igniting a format war between the world’s largest electronics manufacturers. On February 19, 2008, Toshiba will announce that it will discontinue the format. Visit the official Toshiba website.

Ubisoft releases the flight combat game Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII for personal computers, the Xbox and Xbox 360 in Europe. Visit the game’s official website. PEGI: 12+

Ubisoft releases the tactical shooter Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the PlayStation 2 in Europe. It is the third installment in the Ghost Recon series. Visit the game’s official website. PEGI: 16+ USK: 16

Vivendi Games releases Ice Age 2: The Meltdown for personal computers, the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in Europe. It is based on the 2006 animated film Ice Age: The Meltdown. Visit the game’s official website. PEGI :3+

2007
Hudson Soft releases Fishing Master for the Wii in Japan.

In Sydney, Australia 2.2 million people participate in the first Earth Hour from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. Earth Hour is intended to be a global event during which people are asked to shut off all non-essential electricity-consuming devices for a single hour in order to raise awareness of conservation movements. The famed Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House are darked to mark the event. Visit the official Earth Hour website.

Version 1.0 of the BORGChat LAN messaging software is released. Visit the official BORGChat website.