This Date in Geek History

What happened on this date in Geek history?

[thisdateingeekhistory]

March 26 - On this date in geek history in 1931 Leonard Simon Nimoy was born.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Nimoy was a actor, film director, photographer, author and much more. He was best known for playing Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek television show. Nimoy would reprise the role in eight feature films and multiple television shows. He famously directed the third and fourth Star Trek feature films.

outside of the Star Trek universe, Nimoy directed  starred in a number of plays, television shows and was a very popular voice actor, especially in the space documentary genre.

Sadly, Nimoy died earlier this year due to complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 

Listen to the podcast of today’s entry here!

[thisdateingeekhistory]

March 25 - On this date in geek history in 1928 James Arthur “Jim” Lovell Jr. was born. Lovell was a US Navy pilot and NASA astronaut.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovell’s family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he became an Eagle Scout and graduated high school. He would later attend the University of Wisconsin - Madison for the first two years of his collegiate career. He would later move to the United States Naval Academy and after graduation he joined the U.S. Navy.

In 1962, Lovell was selected into the second group of astronauts for the Gemini and Apollo NASA missions. His first space flight was as Pilot of Gemini 7. He then served as Command Pilot on Gemini 12, and later as Command Module Pilot for Apollo 8.

Apollo 13 was Lovell’s first opportunity to serve as Commander of an Apollo mission. The initial mission of Apollo 13 was to explore the Fra Mauro highlands, a large hilly area named for the Fra Mauro crater inside of it.

During the mission an oxygen tank explosion on the spacecraft caused the crew to have to abandon their mission to the moon and take emergency actions in an attempt to return safely to earth. 

Six days after taking off from Kennedy Space Center, the crew successfully reentered the earth’s atmosphere and safely splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean.

Lovell and his wife Marilyn will be celebrating their 46th wedding anniversary this summer and have four children.

 You can listen to the podcast of today’s entry here!

[thisdateingeekhistory]

March 24 - On this date in geek history in 2001 Apple released OS X to the general public. 

OS X is a graphical interface operating system that runs on Apple computers and has been preinstalled on all Apple computers since 2002.

The early development of OS X was done at NExT Inc., the computer company that former Apple C.E.O. founded after he was forced out of Apple in 1985.

You can listen to the podcast version of today’s entry right here!

[thisdateingeekhistory]

March 23 - On this date in Geek History in 1993 Nintendo released Kirby’s Adventure for the Famicom in Japan (known as the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States).

This classic side scrolling platformer was one of the final games to be released for Nintendo’s 8 bit console, and it is widely considered to be one of the finest 8-bit games ever made.

Known for its overtly cute protagonist, the Kirby game series follows a small pink creature, known as Kirby. Kirby must fight a variety of enemies along the way to defeating King Dedede and saving the fictional world of Pop Star. 

Kirby’s Adventure is the second game in the Kirby series, and was the first and only on the NES. The first Kirby game was titled Kirby’s Dream Land and was released for the Nintendo Game Boy in 1992.

You can listen to the podcast version of today’s entry right here!

[thisdateingeekhistory]

 March 22 - On this date in geek history in 1993, Intel shipped the very first ‘Pentium’ microprocessors. The Intel Pentium CPUs are a brand of x86 microprocessors that were a mainstay in 1990s computer hardware. The brand still lives on today, as it’s considered a mid-range CPU.

The name ‘Pentium’ was given to Intel by the firm ‘Lexicon Branding’. They used the suffix -ium because they wanted to make the CPU sound like an essential ingredient for a computer, something akin to a chemical element. and they used the prefix pent- from the ancient Greek penta-, meaning five, since this was the fifth generation x86 microprocessor. 

You can listen to the podcast version of today’s entry right here!

[thisdateingeekhistory]

June 22 - On this day in geek history in 2008 comedian/writer/actor George Carlin died of heart failure at the age of 71. Carlin was best known for his 'dark humor' and command of the English language. He often took on topics that were considered too taboo for comics of the time. 

Carlin received five Grammys and three American Comedy Awards (including a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001). He also had many acting credits to his name, including Rufus from the 'Bill & Ted' series and the narrator of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. 

[thisdateingeekhistory]

Hiatus

Hey all,

First off I want to thank everyone that has followed the blog so far. I see in all your comments that you honestly care about the content that we've put out and that's awesome! Thank you for supporting the blog and helping to extend its reach.

Here's the thing, I'm sure some of you have noticed that the updates haven't been as regular as they normally are. There have been times where 3-4 days go by without a post. That's because I've been busy working on another project, and TDiGH was the area that took the time cut. Sorry to those of you who noticed and were disappointed. As a result of my other project, I wanted to announce that TDiGH will be going on hiatus for approximately one month.

My new project, DirectGeek.com, just launched though! I'm really excited about it. It's a website that encompasses any and all things geek, from TV & Movies to Tech and Gadget reviews. It's also the home of 'The Direct Geek Podcasting Network'! So you can see, there's been a lot. 

I invite all of you to come check out the site and let me know what you think. You can email me at [email protected]. And if you'd like to contribute to DirectGeek.Com you can go to DirectGeek.Com/Join-Us to find out how. 

Thanks everyone, we'll see you all in about a month and hopefully we'll see some of you over at DirectGeek.Com!

~Zak

[thisdateingeekhistory]

October 9 - On this day in geek history in 1943, the radio program Land of the Lost made its debut on ABC radio.

The radio program would later serve as the inspiration for the famous 1970s TV series.

*Photos are not uploading for me right now... apologies*

[thisdateingeekhistory]

[thisdateingeekhistory]

October 2 - On this day in geek history in 1836 Charles Darwin returned to England after a five year expedition studying fauna, flora, wildlife and geology. 

Darwin used the knowledge that he gathered to develop his 'theory of evolution', which he would unveil in 1859 in his book The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

[thisdateingeekhistory]

October 1 - On this day in geek history in 1968 George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead premiered in Pittsburgh, PA.

[thisdateingeekhistory]

Semptember 28 - On this day in geek history in 2009 the iTunes Music Store reached 2 billion applications downloaded.

[thisdateingeekhistory]

September 24 - On this day in geek history in 1936 James Murry Henson, better known as Jim Henson, was born in Greenville, Mississippi.

Henson is best known as the creative mind behind Henson Studios, The Muppet's, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal.

[thisdateingeekhistory]

September 23 - On this day in geek history in 1962 The Jetsons debuted on ABC. The Jetsons was a cartoon that followed the lives of George and Jane Jetson, their children and their robot housekeeper Rosie. The show was the first program on ABC to be carried in color

The show's original run was only 24 episodes that aired between September 1962 and March 1963. In 1984 Hannah-Barbera started producing new episodes specifically for syndication. 

[thisdateingeekhistory]

September 22 - On this day in geek history in 1290 Bilbo Baggins was born (according to the 'Middle-earth Calendar').

Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist of the J.R.R. Tolkien novel 'The Hobbit' and a character in 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy.

[thisdateingeekhistory]

September 21 - On this day in geek history in 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit or There and Back Again' was published for the first time. 

The Hobbit Preceded The Lord of the Ring trilogy, and has never been out of print since its release. Originally Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a stand alone book; After it was received well his publishers asked him for a sequel. Tolkien provided a draft of The Silmrillion, but the publisher rejected it. He then began work on a work called The New Hobbit, which later became The Lord of the Rings.

[thisdateingeekhistory]

September 19 - On this day in geek history in 1982 Scott Fahlman posted to the Carnegie Mellon University electronic Computer Science bulletin board. In his post Fahlman posted the first known emoticon, a smiley face.

:-)