The Great Geek Manual

This Day in Geek History: May 14

14 May 2008 Geek History

1856
Charles Darwin begins writing the book The Origin of Species at his home in Down, England.

1921
The silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Wiene, is released to Japanese theaters. The film will strongly influence many future directors.

1932
The first electrical timing device is tested at a track meet for three events between Columbia University and Syracuse University at Columbia’s Baker Field in New York City.

1935
The Griffith Planetarium opens in Los Angeles, California. It is only the third planetarium in the US.

1939
Lina Medina becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.

1944
George Walton Lucas, Jr., better known simply as George Lucas, is born. Lucas will go on to become the four-time Academy Award nominated American film director, producer, and screenwriter made famous by his epic Star Wars trilogy. He will be one of American film industry’s most financially successful independent directors and producers.

1963
CBS uses a laser light beam link to transmit a network television program for the first time anywhere. The program broadcast is “I’ve Got a Secret“. The studio uses a camera to modulate a laser beam that travels two feet to a receiver that decodes the signal. That signal is then relayed via the control room to be broadcast nationally. This demonstration is based on the work of GTE scientists Samuel M. Stone and Louis Richard Bloom.

The United States' Skylab One 1973
The United States launches Skylab One, its first manned space station. It is the last launch of the Saturn V rocket, as well as the the largest payload launched into space to date. During the following nine months, three successive crews of astronauts will man the orbiting laboratory. It will fall back into the Earth’s atmosphere in July 1979.

1984
Ashton-Tate introduces the dBase III relational database program for 16-bit IBM PC-compatible computers.

1990
The final episode of the science fiction series War of the Worlds, The Obelisk, first airs. (No. 43) The series ran for forty-three episodes over two seasons. The series, based on the original 1953 The War of the Worlds film, was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Sarek” first airs. (No. 323) In it, the Enterprise plays host to Ambassador Sarek, but the ambassador’s deteriorating mental health threatens negotiations. Memory Alpha entry

1992
Federal District Court Judge Fern Smith dismisses the remaining charges brought by Atari against Nintendo, based on a jury’s finding that Atari did not financially suffer from Nintendo’s licensing practices.

Texas Instruments (TI) announces that it will begin selling an advanced microprocessor to compete with the Intel 80486 processor, known as the the “486″. The TI processor will also be called the 486, however, it will ultimately fail to weaken Intel’s grip on the microprocessor industry. The chip was designed by the Texas-based company Cyrix.

1993
Gleason Sackmann establishes the Net-happenings listserv to distribute announcements about the latest Internet resources. It is one of the first popular internet newsletters.

1995
HummingBirdSoft releases the survival horror game Demon of Laplace for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).

1997
The Star Trek: Voyager episode “Worst Case Scenario” first airs. (No. 325) In it, B’Elanna Torres discovers a holodeck program in which Chakotay and the Maquis mutiny and attempt to wrest control of the ship from Janeway. Memory Alpha entry

1998
Microsoft agrees not to ship the latest version of its Windows operating system until Monday, and in exchange, regulators agree not to file any related suits related to the system before its official release.

Ziff-Davis announces plans to launch twenty-four hour hour cable television channel dedicated to information technology called ZDTV. Established at a cost of US$100 million, the channel will be produced in state-of-the-art studios located South of San Francisco’s Market district. Visit the official ZDTV website.

1999
Konami releases Castlevania for the Nintendo 64 in Europe. It is the first 3D game in the popular Castlevania series. Visit the game’s official website. ELSPA: 11+

2000
Majesco Games releases Bomberman Max 2 for the Game Boy Advance. ESRB: E (Everyone)

2001
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announces 800 and 850MHz Duron processors, with integrated caches, PowerNow technology, and Streaming SIMD Extensions. Code name: Morgan

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) introduces the Athlon 4 processor, at speeds ranging from 850MHz to 1GHz, with a 256KB integrated cache, a 200MHz system bus, PowerNow technology, and Streaming SIMD Extensions. The processors are made using a 0.18-micron manufacturing process. Code name: Palomino

The Andromeda episode “It’s Hour Come ‘Round at Last” first airs. (No. 22-122) In it, Harper triggers a past mission hidden in Andromeda’s systems, causing her to revert to a long past mission. During the false mission, the ship is boarded by Magog.

Nintendo releases The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons for the Game Boy Color in North America. Visit the official Oracle of Ages website. Visit the official Oracle of Seasons website. ESRB: E (Everyone)

The Legend of Zelda: The Oracle of Seasons

2002
Acclaim releases the puzzle game ZooCube for the Game Boy Advance in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E (Everyone)

ARUSH Entertainment releases the side-scrolling shooter Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project for Windows. ESRB: M (Mature)

Sony announces price reductions on their video game systems in the US. The price of the PlayStation will be reduced to US$49.99 and the price of the PlayStation 2 will be reduced to US$199.99. In Japan, the PlayStation 2 will cost 29,000 yen, or about US$235. Visit the official PlayStation website.

2003
Atari and Warner Brothers Interactive release Enter the Matrix for Windows, the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in North America. The game will be a great success, selling one million copies in its first eighteen days of release, 2.5 million over the first six weeks, and, eventually, over 5 million copies in total. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)

The ninth annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is held May 14 - 16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. Visit the event’s official website.

Microsoft reduces the price of the Xbox in the United States from US$199 to US$179.99. Visit the official Xbox website.

The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “First Flight” first airs. (No. 224) In it, Archer reminisces about his early career as an experimental warp engine pilot. Memory Alpha entry

The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Bounty” first airs. (No. 225) In it, a Tellarite captures Archer in order to collect the bounty being offered by the Klingons. Meanwhile, a virus causes T’Pol to enter pon farr prematurely. Memory Alpha entry

2004
Version 2 of the CentOS Linux distribution is released. CentOS stands for Community ENTerprise Operating System. The operating system is based on version 2.1 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Visit the official CentOS website.

The launch of Gravity Probe B Gravity Probe B (GP-B) goes into “safemode” for a short period when its helium micro-thrusters malfunction. The problem is addressed quickly and GP-B goes back into Initialization and Orbit Checkout (IOC) mode.

Nintendo releases Pokémon Colosseum for the GameCube in Europe. Visit an archived version of this game’s official website. PEGI: 3+

Tecmo releases Ninja Gaiden for the XBox in Europe. The game is a revival of the Ninja Gaiden series. Visit the game’s official website.

2005
Nintendo opens its first retail store, Nintendo World, in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center in New York City. The store is two stories and features an array of kiosks demonstrating available Game Boy Advance, GameCube, and Nintendo DS games. There are also many cases displaying historical Nintendo memorabilia, including Hanafuda playing cards, the Nintendo corporation’s very first product. The grand opening is celebrated with a block party at Rockefeller Plaza. Visit the official Nintendo World Store website.