This Day in Geek History: October 5
1905
Wilbur Wright pilots the Wright Flyer III in a flight the lasts thirty-nine minutes and covers twenty-four miles, setting a world record that will stand until 1908.
1923
Edwin Hubble identified the first Cepheid variable star.
1934
The premiere of Hollywood Hotel on CBS becomes the first US radio network program to originate from Hollywood.
1936
The first intercity telecast in the US via coaxial cable is transmitted between New York City and Philadelphia over an AT&T coaxial cable landline.
1947
President Harry Truman makes the first presidential address in history to be televised. Speaking from the White House, Truman asks Americans to sale back their consumption of grain in order to assist Europe in recovering from a famine in the aftermath of World War II while the Marshall Plan for European economic recovery took effect.
1962
United Artists releases the first installment in the James Bond film franchise, the spy film Dr. No, directed by Terence Young and starring Sean Connery, Joseph Wiseman, Ursula Andress, Jack Lord, and John Kitzmiller to UK theaters. In it, an agent of the British Secret Service, James Bond (007), is sent out to the West Indies in order to find out why another of his number was killed. His arrival is not welcomed by everyone, but it is not long before he is on the trail of the killer. The trail leads to a secretive scientist, Dr. No, but the discovery has wider implications… Produced on a budget of US$1 million, the film will gross US$109.6 million worldwide. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG) Running Time: 1 hr 50 mins
1969
The comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus premieres on the BBC with the episode “Whither Canada?” The series will run for forty-five episodes over five series. Visit the Official Monty Python website. IMDB listing
1970
The PBS television network is launched.
1982
According to Twin Galaxies, David Plummer, age 14, scores a record-setting 2,175,743 points playing the Atari arcade game Tempest for two hours and twenty-three minutes at Midtown Amusements in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.
Sony begins marketing pocket televisions with 2-inch diagonal flat screens.
1984
Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. (STS-41G) The mission is the first NASA mission to carry a crew of seven. It also marks the first time in history two women (Sally K. Ride and Kathryn D. Sullivan)have been in space at the same time.
1991
Linus Torvalds announces the release of the first official version of the Linux kernel, version 0.02. The announcement is made on Usenet. In the announcement, Torvalds writes, “Do you pine for the nice days of minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote their own device drivers?” and goes on to invite fellow hackers to join in the project’s development. Visit the software’s official website.
1992
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) introduces the IBM ThinkPad line of laptop computers. The ThinkPad 300, manufactured by Zenith Data Systems, features a 25 MHz 386SL processor. The ThinkPad 700 features a monochrome 9.5-inch display, a 25 MHz 486SLC, a 80/120 hard drive, and 4MB RAM. The ThinkPad 700C features the 25MHz 486SLC, a 10.3-in TFT active-matrix VGA color.
1997
Hackers anonymously crack the www.pentagon-ai.army.mil home page.
1998
Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) reveals plans to cut 2,500 of their 127,000 worldwide employees by offering a voluntary severance package. HP’s last employee buyout took place in 1991.
Veritas Software Corporation, a data protection software developer, reveals plans to acquire the Network and Storage Management Group of Seagate Software for about US$1.6 billion in stock.
Version 4.07 of the Netscape Communicator internet suite is released.
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